Forgiven, and Loved
by cggirl3
Summary: He saves her from getting killed that day. Dangerous feelings start to sprout and an undeniable romance is in the works. ByaRuki. Byakuya/Rukia romantic pairing. Rated M. Takes place after SS arc and during the Arrancar arc. Kind of Bleach plot-based with many twists. PART 1. Now complete.
1. Chapter 1

I loved Bleach until I found out about the shit ending but here's a story for Byakuya and Rukia! I was inspired by the fanart I saw on deviantart and one of the pictures that inspired me for this first chapter is the cover picture I used for this fic (Ralenore from deviantart). I ship ByaRuki and it is NOT incest so if you want to leave ridiculous comments, don't bother. Just don't read this if you don't like the pairing. It is my first work so please don't be too harsh with the criticism though I will be open to suggestions (please review or PM me!). This is just the first chapter and it is the shortest of all because it's kind of just an intro, but bear with me and I promise it will get better, I already have the next few chapters in the works and am super excited! This takes place right after SS arc but I may jump around to the future and back though. It might get a little OOC but that is to be expected, though I will try my best to stay as faithful to their personalities as I can. Please review, it would mean so much to me and would encourage me to continue this! Just a simple comment or even constructive criticism would be great! Hope you enjoy this story :)

I do not own Bleach, but I own this fanfic. And I wish Bleach had ended differently.

Chapter 1

The Sakura bloomed in red that day

The moment Gin's sword pierced her Nii-sama instead of herself, Rukia felt many things. She was shocked that he would do such a thing for her, admired him for saving her, and was absolutely terrified that she was about to become the cause of her Nii-sama's death.

She hadn't ever really hated him though it seemed like he certainly hated her. He would never look her in the eye, barely even spoke to her at all. All Rukia ever wanted was acknowledgment, for him to talk to her, be proud of her for her accomplishments even in the slightest—anything that would show he cared at all for her really, that he knew she existed. Rukia used to wonder if it was because she had an uncanny resemblance to his late wife that he refused to convene with her unless absolutely necessary. She felt unbearable sadness when Byakuya-sama had done absolutely nothing to try to stop her execution, though it was to be expected. When Renji had said not to worry, that her brother would take care of it, she responded apathetically that he would do nothing at all to stop it. Just shortly after that, Byakuya had come to announce her execution date and left immediately, shocking even Renji who hadn't expected that he could be so cruel. It was nothing Rukia wasn't expecting though. He never liked her, never showed an ounce of affection despite the fact that he came to her and decided to adopt her as his sister. Rukia wondered why he even bothered to do this in the first place if he was never going to act as a brother; maybe it was pity? But she knew as the head of one of the noble clans, even if he liked her at all, or even pitied her, he would pick the law over anything else. Because that was the kind of person he was. However it just seemed like he didn't really like her at all, he never acted like a brother would though he was the one who had taken her in, given her a place to call home-even if it never really felt like home to her.

So why? Why had he saved her at almost the cost of his own life? Did he really care about her? Why had he never shown any emotion in front of her?

Seconds after Aizen took off with Gin and Tosen, Byakuya had collapsed as he had lost so much blood from the wound.

"Nii-sama!" yelled Rukia.

Byakuya was on his knees and at this point he didn't have the strength in him to get up so Rukia tried to get him up, but suddenly he brought his head to her chest, closing his eyes as he leaned against her. It was right then that she realized how sorry he was towards her, how desperately he wanted her forgiveness. She slowly wrapped her hands around his neck, gently hugging him and giving a simple kiss on the top of his head, as the wind surrounding them blew around the petals of Senbonzakura.


	2. Chapter 2

Decided to publish this right away since the first chapter was really short anyways :). I plan on doing this thing where the story kind of goes back and forth between Rukia's and Byakuya's viewpoints. I hope you like it and please review! Not anything too exciting happens in this chapter but I swear the next one will be different and kind of humorous as well. Enjoy! Please review! Compliments and constructive criticism are both great as I know I'm just a beginner but hope to improve over time!

I don't own Bleach, Tite Kubo does.

Chapter 2

New Feelings and Old

Byakuya shortly lost consciousness afterwards, making Rukia panic, but luckily Captain Unohana had stepped in then and started tending to his wounds. Once he had regained consciousness, he had told Rukia the truth about her older sister and his promise to her, as well as the one he made to his parents. He held out his hand subtly and Rukia didn't need him to say anything to understand that he wanted her to be there for him. Not physically in front of him, but in heart and soul. She put her hand in his, holding back tears.

Rukia did not know what it was, but she had always been drawn to her Nii-sama. He was certainly an attractive man, deemed the most attractive bachelor by the Shinigami Women's Association. However he never showed any emotion to her, never even looked at her and always spoke with his back facing towards her if anything. But in that moment he had become vulnerable- entirely for her, and this stirred something deep in Rukia's heart. _Shut up, you're being delusional! It's because he promised his wife—your sister by the way—and all you are is a burden to him!_ She thought to herself. But deep down she could sense what was going on. She was jealous of Hisana. If he had been able to show Rukia how much he cared for her, then how much love did her sister receive from this beautiful man? She was his wife for God's sake! However, Rukia knew if she continued thinking about this any longer she would completely lose her mind, so she shook her head and dismissed it as sibling possessiveness. _I can't expect him to do any more for me. He's already done so much and I'm grateful._ But another lower voice sneered in her head _Yeah stop expecting shit from him—you who are worthless, what could he ever see in you? Just be grateful he hasn't kicked you out of his house yet with all the shit you've been—_

"Rukia-sama! Are you here to see Kuchiki Taichou?" yelled out Hanataro, waving to her with his typical awkward smile.

Rukia looked around and finally realized she had walked all the way to the Squad 4 barracks while immersed in her foolish thoughts.

 _Shit! Why am I here?_

"Would you like me to go tell him you're here to see him? He should be awake by now."

"Oh, I, um…" she noticed that Hanataro was now giving her a weird look.

"No he should be resting," replied Rukia. She turned around to leave, but then looked back and said, "Oh, and Hanataro, you don't need to tell him I was here…he should focus on recovering anyways. I'll see you later, bye!" And she ran out of there as fast as her short legs could take her, not looking back.

 _What the hell are you doing Rukia!? Hanataro now thinks you're a fucking weirdo! Why would you even run away like that- no wait why did you even go there in the first place!?_

She felt her heart pounding and was breathless, as she imagined what could've happened if she went to meet him… and started thinking about that gorgeous man. The air of elegance surrounding him, his long black silky hair with the kenseikan symbolizing his noble birth, his beautiful rainy grey eyes that any girl could look into and swim in for days and never tire of—

 _No, no what am I thinking?! He is my brother!_

~Byakuya's POV~

Just as he was putting on his captain's haori and getting ready to leave the hospital barracks, he had picked up on her reiatsu. One of the Squad 4 guys had just left his room and Byakuya heard him yell out her name. Rukia. Was she here to see him? The voices were then quieter and Byakuya went to the door, putting his ear to it as he strained to listen in on the conversation that was taking place outside. In just a minute she had run off; he sensed her reiatsu weakening as she went off into the distance. It was then that he realized what a ridiculous thing he was doing, leaning in to the door trying to eavesdrop on what she had been saying. He quickly straightened himself up and that's when the awkward little Squad 4 guy came bursting in through the door, accidentally making the door smack into Byakuya's forehead.

"Kuchiki-Taichou, sumimasen, please forgive me!" he said as he continuously bowed down for what seemed like a hundred times to apologize.

Byakuya cleared his throat. "It's fine, now move out of the way."

"But Kuchiki Taichou, you need more rest, you're not completely recovered yet!" the goofy little imp exclaimed.

"I am perfectly fine and am capable of deciding when I can leave..now move out of the way," he responded coldly.

"Hai..Please do forgive me!" he responded in fear. "And um if you don't mind me asking, what were you doing so close to the door like that?"

Byakuya flashed him a death glare and he shut up immediately.

However, curiosity got the best of him and he had to ask. "What was Rukia doing here?"

"Oh, I didn't realize you knew! I thought she came to see you, but she said that she should just let you rest and didn't want to disturb you. But she also said to not tell you she was here.. I wonder why" Hanatoro ranted on cluelessly.

"I see."

He left immediately after that, shunpoing back to the Kuchiki mansion.

 _Why would she come all the way there and leave right away? Was she worried for me? But then why did decide to tell the healer not to tell me she ever came?_

He mentally slapped himself as he could sense he might've been losing his typical apathetic look and aura of calm.

He actually felt kind of sad that she decided not to see him after all. After confessing the truth about Hisana, he hadn't seen her much at all save for the occasional greeting of "Hello Nii-sama" whenever they ran into each other by coincidence. It was almost as if she was trying to avoid him. He felt deeply confused by this. _Did I scare her off when I hugged her like that? Was I making her uncomfortable?_ He suddenly felt stupid for appearing so weak in front of her like that. The truth was he had been so afraid of losing her. Even before Gin attacked, when the execution was announced, he pretended to not care at all and he knew that people were calling him a cold-blooded prince behind his back. He may have looked like he felt nothing on the outside, but he was in complete and utter despair in his mind. He cursed at himself for making a promise that he wouldn't be able to keep. He hated that he had to look perfect and had to put the law above all others because that was his duty as the head of his clan. He wanted to run away- run away from it all and take Rukia away with him and keep her safe but he knew he couldn't do that.

He grew to care for her so much in these years that she stayed with him. It was not only because of his promise to Hisana, but he truly began to care for her over the years. At first it had hurt, she looked so much like his wife that he couldn't even bear to look into her eyes in fear that he'd break down… but now things were different. He saw her strength as she worked hard to become a powerful shinigami—though she still had a lot to work on—he began seeing her as Rukia, for who she was rather than as Hisana's sister. They might've looked alike but they were completely different. Hisana had been weak and fragile, she always needed him. And here was Rukia testing herself and going on to achieve great things under the name of Kuchiki. She worked hard to become stronger, and she was someone who never gave up once she felt determined—he admired her for that. He knew she was capable of becoming a seated officer but did not want her to take on dangerous missions so had specially requested that she not be to the head captain. She never once complained to him, never begged to be spoiled, though he knew she was hurting inside over the years. He had never acted like a brother, a friend- or anything at all really. He was never around for her, even when she was hurting so badly after Kaien Shiba's death. And she had to act like a noble and not enjoy things with friends like she used to when younger, all because he had adopted her into the family.

 _Rukia...I am sorry for the pain I caused you all these years. I can only hope you will be able to forgive me someday…_

He looked up at the moonlight, closing his eyes, as the cherry blossom petals from the trees of his garden grazed by him.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! I decided to update today as I was able to make time and was just super excited to write lol. I see that a lot of you are viewing but won't leave me any reviews T_T. Please review so I know that you're enjoying it, or I can see how to make this story better! I appreciate anything really as long as it's not rude but guiding ^^. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it :D It's a long one! And starts off with a little steamy preview (it is rated M!) XD

Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Tite Kubo.

Chapter 3- Noble Façade

"Rukia," called out Byakuya in his low seductive voice.

"Yes?" she squeaked.

"Tell me…all…the things…you want…me…to…do to you…" he whispered as he trailed along kisses on either side of her neck.

"I want everything…all of you..." she replied as it slowly got harder for her to respond. She was feeling a tingly sensation in the lower part of her body.

He had now taken off her robe causing her breasts to be out in the open.

"No… wait. Don't look at me" she said, covering herself with her arms while blushing.

"Why not?"

"I…I'm not good enough… for someone like you…it's embarrassing."

He sighed. "Rukia, there is no one I'd rather be with in this moment—or ever for that matter. You are the most beautiful woman… and the only one I want."

It was then that Rukia got the courage to kiss him passionately. Byakuya opened his mouth, letting her in and they were kissing intensely, like one was the water for the other in a desert. They finally broke apart after a minute and Byakuya slowly went down. He stopped to suck on her nipple, eliciting a moan from Rukia as it perked up. He did the same with the other and continued lower and lower, then swiftly pulled off her underwear. He then proceeded to lick down there, finding her G spot, which made Rukia break out into a gasp.

"Byakuya…" she moaned over and over as he continued to do wonderful things to her body.

"He's really good isn't he?" suddenly a voice said from the side. Rukia whipped her head around to look and her eyes widened.

"Yeah it was like that with me too…How does it feel to be fucking your own sister's husband, Rukia?" said the woman who Rukia now was able to get a good look at.

"Oh my God!" Rukia startled awake, sweaty as hell, her heart pounding. She had been dreaming about sleeping with her brother! But the worst part was she liked the dream, until her sister came along and ruined it.

 _What is wrong with me? I am totally losing it right now!_

She then heard a knock on her door and straightened up, fixing her hair with her hands to look half-decent.

"Come in," she said.

Byakuya stepped in. Rukia suddenly felt extremely self unconscious. "G-good morning Nii-sama."

"It's good that you're awake. I just came to tell you that your presence will be required tomorrow evening with a meeting I'm having with the elders," he replied in his usual grim tone.

"What? Why do I need to be there?"

He sighed impatiently. "Because, Rukia, you are a Kuchiki even if not by blood. You are needed there. Dress properly. That's all I came to say." He then walked out.

 _A meeting? With the elders? Why do I need to go?_ _Did I do something wrong? Did they find out about my more-than-sibling type feelings toward Nii-sama?_

She shook herself out of it. She couldn't waste her time thinking about dumb things like this.

She got up out of bed and freshened up. She clearly needed to talk to a friend.

~~  
"OH MY GOD WHO IS IT?" yelled out Rangiku.

"What…I don't know! I told you I'm asking for a friend," replied Rukia.

Rangiku snorted. "What friend? Oh come on just tell me who you're falling in love with! I promise to keep it a secret!"

"For the last time, I really am asking for a friend!"

She sighed. "Yeah yeah whatever. So tell me why exactly 'your friend' can't have feelings for this guy?"

"Well… it's just society wouldn't accept it I suppose. But before that, he probably wouldn't even like her in that way to begin with. You see, he doesn't show that he cares much, but I…my friend I mean… feels like he does care but in a completely platonic way. So it's silly that she's deluding herself because of these dumb dreams and all."

"Well then why doesn't she just tell him flat out that she's interested in him to find out? If he rejects you…sorry, 'your friend'… then screw him because she deserves better than that bullshit." Rangiku poured herself a drink. "Want some?" she offered.

"No thanks, I don't think I can hold my liquor well… and you shouldn't drink too much either! What if your Captain sees?"

"Blah blah blah…" she rolled her eyes as she gulped up the sake.

"Rangiku-san, she can't confess to him ever. If she does, it'll make things terribly awkward because he's not someone she'd be able to avoid much if at all."

Rangiku shrugged. "Just kiss him then and see how he responds. Can't go wrong with that!"

"Rangiku-san!"

"Whaaat," she responded. "From what you've told me, it seems like this guy is one of those goody-goody guys. Like a one woman type of man. If he's not interested he'll push you away and reject your advances immediately. If he doesn't… well there you go. It shows he can't deny his feelings for you when you do something like that." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Rukia blushed. "That-that is the worst advice you've ever given me and that is really saying something considering all the other times!"

Rangiku was now completely reddened with the Asian glow and was starting to get sleepy. She put her head down. "Rukia, if he really loves you, you'll know it. You'll be able to feel it with your heart and soul."

"My friend not me, Rangiku- san! And what do you even mean—"

Rangiku's loud snores could now be heard and Rukia sighed. She went over to her to help her get back to her room, as she was in her office at the moment.

"Holy damn you are so heavy!" Rukia said while panting. Rangiku stirred but didn't wake. Rukia was dragging her across the floor like she was a corpse.

"Drinking again!?" yelled out a familiar voice.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!"

"I've got this, she's my lieutenant. I'll take over Rukia-san." He said while looking extremely annoyed.

"Thank you Taichou! To be honest I didn't think she'd be so heavy."

Toshiro shook her and Rangiku came to. "You wouldn't understand all the problems that come with having big boobs! I look sexy but it's so hard to maintain and all!"

"Matsumoto! You better have finished at least half your paperwork!" said Toshiro.

"Taichou~I promise I will tomorrow hehe. See y'all later," replied Rangiku. And then she ran off.

"I will see you later. Hope the 6th Squad Captain is doing better now," said Toshiro Hitsugaya before taking off.

At the mention of him, Rukia's heart skipped a beat. "Yes, Hitsugaya Taichou."

Now even the mention of him was getting Rukia's heart all pounding. _What am I going to do?_

~Elder Meeting Day~ Byakuya's viewpoint

In just an half an hour was the meeting with the elders. For some reason, they had asked him to bring Rukia along this time. Byakuya was surprised by this but showed no expression to Rukia when he went to tell her. _Is she feeling nervous?_

He stopped by Rukia's room, knocking impatiently, but keeping his voice calm. "Rukia, it's time."

"Y-yes, Nii-sama, just one moment."

He turned around and was gazing at the pond in the yard when he heard the door open.

He slowly turned back to look at her for a moment and his breath caught in his throat.

She was wearing a traditional yukata, a light peach color with the design of dozens of cherry blossom petals. The outfit was conservative, her skin was not showing, but it accentuated her body in such a way that he could see her small curves, stirring something in him that he hadn't felt in many years. Her hair was tied up in a formal way, putting her neck out in the open. Her big, beautiful violet eyes were now staring into his, as her pale cheeks now became colored a rosy red, making her look breathtakingly beautiful. She looked down immediately, and it was then that he realized he was staring at her, frozen in place. He quickly looked away before it could be made obvious where his thoughts were heading.

"I hope this is appropriate for the occasion, Nii-sama?" she said nervously.

"Yes, it is fine. Let's go now before we're late." He responded coolly.

Rukia's viewpoint

Rukia blushed as she noticed that Byakuya had stared at her a moment too long. Other people wouldn't have realized this, but she was someone who had lived with him for nearly 100 years, so she got better at reading into his very, very subtle expressions. _Jeez would it really hurt him that much to say I look beautiful though? The way he had in my dream…Holy crap stop! Don't think about this right now!_

They entered the big traditional house, and Rukia saw many faces she didn't recognize. _Probably a lot of people from the lesser noble families here._

"Rukia, head in. I'll be there soon," said Byakuya.

"Alright, Nii-sama."

She turned around and also saw the Head Captain heading in, and surprisingly her red-haired childhood friend, Renji Abarai. He caught her eye and started coming towards her. She was in utter shock and gave him a look that said "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Rukia!" he yelled out and then stopped in his tracks as he now noticed her attire and looked her up and down. "You look…not bad. Haha." He nervously scratched his hair.

"Renji, what the hell are you doing here!?"

"What, I'm not a noble so I can't be here?"

Rukia turned red. "That isn't what I meant, you know that."

"Well, I was invited by the head taichou, and I can't exactly say no to him can I?"

"What? Do you even know what's going on here? To be honest this was totally out of the blue for me as well."

"No clue but I guess we're about to find out m'lady," he said as he held the door open for her to head in first.

Rukia rolled her eyes, but went in.

~~  
Everyone was sitting around a huge dining table filled with lots of food like rice with shrimp, fried carp, sushi rolls, and a ton of other fancy food Rukia couldn't name. There were drinks out as well.

The Head Captain then cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. The other important members of this society and I decided to make an announcement regarding marriage in the Kuchiki clan. Specifically concerning Rukia Kuchiki."

Rukia's eyes widened and she looked over at her Nii-sama. Even his head snapped up at this news and Rukia, for the first time in her life, saw him make a "What the fuck is going on" face.

"We believe that Rukia is of age to be married off and thought the perfect candidate would be Renji Abarai. He may not be of noble birth, but he is a respected officer of Soul Society, and I am aware they were friends when younger as they came from the same district. So we all thought they would be the perfect match. What do you say to this, Renji Abarai of 6th Squad, and Rukia Kuchiki of the 13th?"

Rukia looked over at Renji who looked like he nearly choked on the sushi roll he was eating. He quickly drank some water, looked at Rukia for a second while she gave him a look of terror, and finally responded.

"I-I accept, Head taichou." He said, slightly blushing.

In this moment, Rukia saw the huge vase filled with sake in front of her and decided to chug it down.

~Byakuya's viewpoint~

Listening to what the Head Captain was saying was like a literal slap to Byakuya Kuchiki's face. He wanted to shout out that this was insane and made absolutely no sense, but was not able to say one word.

And then that stupid monkey-ish lieutenant of his said "I accept." _What the fuck are you saying? Abarai, I'll bloody murder you I swear. You, you stupid little imp you don't deserve Rukia! I won't allow this to happen! Not as long as I'm alive!_ Byakuya started panicking and he looked at Rukia, as everyone was waiting for her words on this. And then he saw her take the sake that was right in front of her, saw her chug it down like it was her last day of living and she had never been to a party in her life.

People around him murmured. "What is she doing?" "She's either extremely excited or absolutely horrified right now." "She shouldn't be acting like this, she's a Kuchiki." "Not by blood though."

After finishing the whole thing in 2 minutes flat, Rukia put down the bottle…and started smiling like a happy little child.

"I'mma get married huhhh wooow. And to Renji wooow. How excitingggg." She slurred her words, clearly drunk. She then looked at Byakuya, who was across the table from her. Her smile disappeared. "You—you…" She started walking around towards him.

 _Shit! Rukia stop this! Are you out of your mind?_

But he could not say a word at this moment, he just stared.

She then stopped, just a foot away from him, and broke into a smile. "Byakuya-sama~~ BYAKKUN~~"

Literally everyone now stopped to look at her, and he was certain that he heard a few people spill their drinks. Even the Head Captain opened his eyes wide, clearly not expecting this situation in front of him.

"Byakuya~~" she stepped closer and suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a tight hug. Byakuya was finally able to find his voice.

"Rukia stop this madness immediately! Don't forget where we are!"

"Rules…blah blah… honor…this and that…blah blah…" She then backed up a bit, still embracing him though. She now looked into his eyes and it looked like she was about to cry.

"..She told me..that if I kiss you.. you.. and see how you react that I'll know."

Renji now got out of his seat. "Rukia what the fuck are you doing!?"

Rukia now cupped Byakuya's face with her hands, and leaned closer and closer to him.

Byakuya was in complete and utter shock now. She shouldn't behave this way, especially in front of everyone else here!

"Rukia…what are you…Rukia!" Byakuya said, still in shock and not able to do anything. He couldn't even push her away, as he wasn't completely sure if this was really happening or not.

"Rukia… you can't—"

If Byakuya had shown any real emotion in the last 100 years of apathetic-ness , it was absolutely nothing compared to the expression on his face in this moment.

That's it for now! Please leave a review! I would really appreciate it! Pretty please? I promise to continue to make this exciting! ;) I don't know many chapters I'll write as I'm still working on it, but I am hoping to at least reach 15-20 or so minimum if I feel motivated enough (so please review LOL) and shout to bluetonic4390 for the review heart heart anyone who leaves a review gets a shoutout from me for being the best and keeping me motivated to continue! {333


	4. Chapter 4

Hi guys! Decided to update today as I was able to find some time and I'd like to thank Juli Greenthorne, my latest reviewer: You have no idea how happy it makes me to read a review like that, it motivates me so much more when I know that people are enjoying my story! And a shoutout to my loyal follower bluetonic4390 who kept me going from the start :). This chapter is not as long as or as exciting as the last one but I have great things planned so bear with me! And all you viewers who are reading the story but won't review: T_T please do when you get a chance to! It makes me super happy and I might even write a chapter that day itself like I did for Juli today! XD Hope you guys enjoy it!

Just one more side note: I am a new writer, I know my skills aren't all that great compared to all the others out there but I truly enjoy doing this when I have some free time and it makes me super happy when I know others are enjoying my stories even with the amateur writing skills. So once again thanks reviewers and followers for keeping me motivated despite my lack of great skill :)

Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Tite Kubo.

Chapter 4- Drunk Idiocy

Byakuya didn't know what the fuck to do, and he just stood frozen like an idiot. Rukia suddenly stopped leaning in towards him, made a weird face and started gagging. She puked all over the front of his robe. She then stood and looked at him dazed, before her eyes rolled over and her knees gave out. _Had she passed out?_ _Of course she passed out, she drank too much. What kind of explanation am I supposed to give these people now? Whatever, doesn't matter. I need to get her home so she can recover first._

"Rukia, you need to wake up," he whispered while gently shaking her.

"Hmmm…" she stirred. He quickly grabbed a cup of water and made her drink as much as she could in her current condition. She then put her head down against him, sighing before drifting off into what seemed like a peaceful sleep.

Byakuya now carefully got some napkins from the dining table next to him. He then wiped off what he could of the vomit on his outfit.

Renji then suddenly came up to him, grabbing Rukia's arm as if he was going to take her home himself.

"Taichou, I'm sorry for her behavior, I can take care of her now."

 _Take care of her? And just who do you think you are to do that?_

Trying to keep his cool, "That will not be necessary. I will be taking her home as it is my duty to do so."

He then proceeded to lift her up with both arms, removing Renji's hand from her arm first as Renji gave him a surprised look, and was now holding her bridal-style. She was such a tiny little thing, no wonder she got drunk in an instant.

He bowed his head. "Please forgive her behavior, everyone. She was caught off track by this…news. Head-Taichou, if we can meet later and talk about this, it would be good. We'll be taking our leave now."

He then shunpoed out of there immediately before he was forced to explain anything else, gripping on tight to Rukia's frail little body. _You can never manage to stay out of trouble can you…is there any reason why you did that to yourself? You who always stays calm, even when her own execution was announced, suddenly did this at the mention of marriage? Just what am I going to do with you Rukia?_

~Rukia's viewpoint~

She awoke with a horrible headache, felt as if her brain was hitting against the walls of her skull. She looked up, noticing that this wasn't her room. She then got up in place, looking around confused when her eyes fell on her Nii-sama's back. She was in his room. A wave of realization hit her then and she recalled all of last night's horrifying- and embarrassing- turn of events. _Oh God what did I do?! Oh there's no way in hell I can talk to him now. I clearly embarrassed him and brought dishonor to the Kuchiki name…FUCK._

She quickly lay back in bed, shutting her eyes and pretending to still be asleep. She then heard the scruffle of papers and the door open and close as he left the room. She sighed as she got up and sat there thinking for a couple minutes, when the door opened again and one of the maids came in.

"Rukia-sama, the young master said you were awake so told me to bring this soup to you to help aid in your speedy recovery."

As if on cue, her headache returned and it felt as if someone was hitting her head with a hammer.

The maid brought over the tray with the hangover soup, gently setting it on Rukia's lap.

"Hey, when and how did I get here?" Rukia inquired.

"Ah, Kuchiki-sama brought you home last night. We weren't expecting him back so early but he was carrying you as you were unconscious and then brought you here so he could watch over you in case you were to start throwing up again or something." Her eyes shifted to the bucket nearby.

Rukia blushed as she thought of being carried by Byakuya.

"He didn't sleep?"

"No, he was working on some paperwork all night, I believe. He got tea several times as well."

"Ah I see. Did he say anything at all about last night's events to you?"

"He just said you had a little too much to drink, Rukia-sama. And that was pretty clear from the vomit stains on his clothes." She looked like she was about to laugh, but quickly straightened up and looked serious.

"I see."

"Do let me know once you're done, I'll be standing right outside."

"Thank you."

She bowed as she took her leave.

So Nii-sama knew she was awake. He even had hangover soup sent over for her and watched over her all night long to take care of her. She started taking sips of the soup with the spoon, thinking about how grateful she was that he hadn't tried to discuss the horrendous calamity that occurred the night before just yet.

~Byakuya's viewpoint~

He knew that she had woken up but wanted to give her privacy and some time to feel better before he could discuss what had unfolded the previous night.

He brought her home after her less-than-appropriate behavior at the meeting, when she had nearly passed out. He brought her to his room and lay her down on the bed so it would be easier to take care of her, and stayed up using the excuse of work. He then changed out of his clothes in the bathroom, then brought some tea for himself as he started his work. Rukia had stayed quiet for most of the night, but once started saying something in her sleep. He thought she had woken up and was calling for him so he went closer, and realized she was dreaming. She kept saying "please don't leave me" over and over so desperately that Byakuya felt inclined to hold her hand for a minute or two. She had then drifted back into peaceful slumber once he did that.

He had so many questions for her, but figured he could wait a while. He was now going to talk with the Head Captain regarding the events of last night, and his view on the marriage.

He stepped into the Head Captain's office and bowed.

"Ah, yes, Kuchiki-taichou. Come in, we have much to discuss."

"Yes, Head-taichou. Regarding Rukia's behavior last night, I'm really sorry for that. I should've stopped her from drinking."

"The question is why did she even do that in the first place? I thought she liked Renji."

Byakuya slightly gritted his teeth, trying to hold back emotions that were threatening to come to life.

"I believe she is still too young for marriage, and there's still a lot of training to become stronger that she's been going through."

"She can train even when she's married, can she not? I doubt your lieutenant would stop her from that."

Trying not to sound too annoyed, Byakuya responded, "I just don't believe she is ready for that kind of change in her life, which is why she did what she did last night. I realize that her behavior was highly inappropriate, but I request that you keep in mind her motivations behind it."

"And what about her motivations for coming onto you?" _Damn it he's really asking about that!?_

"I believe the proper term for that would be 'drunk idiocy'. She probably felt most comfortable around me…as I am her family after all."

"Comfortable around you?" The Head Captain chuckled for a moment before realizing that it was inappropriate in this current circumstance so then cleared his throat.

Byakuya was slightly offended, but didn't show it. _Why wouldn't she be? He did all that he could for her. And why is this old man laughing about it?_

"Well, I will discuss this matter with Rukia and your lieutenant themselves then."

"I don't think that would be necessary though, it's clear she doesn't want to get married right now."

"Rukia can say that herself. And if not now maybe sometime in the future then. We shall see," said the Head Captain.

"…Yes, sir. I will be taking my leave now." He left the room.

 _Why is the old man so intent on getting them married? It's clear Rukia doesn't want it. If Yamamoto wants so badly for someone to get married why doesn't he just find someone for himself to marry?_

At this thought, Byakuya almost smiled as he thought it was funny, but looked around and noticed there were people. He didn't show any emotion.

One thing Yamamoto said stuck with him though. _"And what about her motivations for coming onto you?"_ Was she coming onto him? Was she actually interested in him in that way? _This is ridiculous-she was just drunk and didn't know what she was doing, that's all it is. Don't think too much of it._

~Rukia's viewpoint~

She was walking along the garden in the backyard when she saw him. Apparently he saw her, too. _Oh shit!_ She quickly turned around and started walking the other way, pretending not to see him. _I can't talk to him right now, I've got to avoid him-_

He suddenly appeared right in front of her, causing her to gasp.

"Nii-sama…"

"Rukia. How are you feeling now?" he asked. _Was that genuine concern…for me?_

"H-huh. Oh I am fine, Nii-sama."

"That's good." He kind of stood there for a moment awkwardly as if waiting for her to say something.

"Nii-sama…I heard that I got drunk last night and you brought me home and took care of me." She bowed. "I'm really sorry for being such a burden and thank you."

"It's nothing. Just don't do it again." He stayed, still looking a little expectant.

"I won't! The truth is I actually don't remember what happened after I got drunk…but I am really sorry for any disturbance I caused." _Liar you know exactly what you did and why!_

His eyes flickered a bit at her response. "Yes…you did cause a great disturbance." It appeared as if he was thinking about a lot of things in that moment.

"I'm truly so sorry! I won't drink like that ever again!"

"Good. I have to get going now, I have some work to do."

"O-oh ok Nii-sama." He turned to the side now.

"Rukia?"

"Y-yes?"

"Would you like to marry Renji?"

"I just don't think I'm ready for marriage yet, I'm sorry Nii-sama... if I'm putting you in a tough position."

"Hmm…Do you love Renji?"

She was completely caught off guard with that question. "No, I mean, yes, but not in that kind of way…I care for him but as a friend only, Nii-sama."

"I see." He now turned around completely and looked like he was going to walk away, but suddenly turned around and came close to Rukia. He then did something she wouldn't have expected in a million years. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Take care of yourself…Rukia." He was then gone in an instant.

Rukia was in utter shock for a whole minute.

She then reached down and put her hand over her chest, feeling the thudding of the heart threatening to beat right out of her chest—all because of this one beautiful man who had just kissed her on the forehead. Something had awakened deep in Rukia's heart; something she felt that she would no longer be able to deny.

~So that's it for this chapter guys! I know it wasn't all too exciting but the next one will be really good I promise! There just has to be some build-up to those really good chapters don't you think? As always: please review, both praise and constructive criticism accepted :D I will do my best to improve my writing and I really do hope you all are enjoying this!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, I've been kind of busy as my workload is increasing (and midterms are coming up next week D:)! I will try to update as soon as I can though since I love writing this story :) I'd also like to take a moment to thank my latest reviewer, NF! It's reviews like yours that make me inclined to put aside time for writing no matter how busy I am LOL. And thanks again to Juli and bluetonic4390! I hope you guys like this chapter as some interesting stuff does happen ;)! I'm setting up stuff for the next few chapters which is why you might find some bits boring but I promise everything serves its purpose and I am trying to make this story enjoyable overall :) Please do review as it makes my day to see that others are enjoying this fic!

Chapter 5- The Garden

~Byakuya's viewpoint~

 _What the hell was I thinking? What will she think of me now?_ Byakuya felt like he could literally slap himself in this moment. It was just a kiss to the forehead, but to Byakuya it was a lot more. He couldn't contain the happiness he felt when he heard her say that Abarai was absolutely nothing more than a friend. He didn't even know why that news had made him so ecstatic, it was just ridiculous. _Oh you know it's because you believe that this gives YOU a chance- Shut up!_ So many things were going on in his mind right now and he really felt like he was losing it.

He also thought about how Rukia had said she didn't remember any of that night's events when she was drunk, and for some reason felt disappointed at this. He didn't know what he was expecting to hear from her, but he certainly wasn't expecting that. He just felt unhappy that she couldn't remember how she had been acting around him- it was actually quite amusing- and to know that it would only be a part of _his_ memory forever saddened him. _It's probably for the best- she doesn't remember and I should try to forget it as well. It meant nothing, it was just the drink talking._

Byakuya was honestly finding it hard to control his actions around Rukia and this was starting to scare him. He liked feeling like he was in control, he felt strong. She was clearly trying to avoid him back in the garden, but he was the one wouldn't let her get away. It was as if she was his prisoner-but really, he felt as if he was becoming hers.

~Rukia's viewpoint~

~~  
"YOU DID WHAAAT?!" Rangiku burst out laughing.

"Rangiku-san please keep it down! I'm honestly really embarrassed about this," Rukia said, blushing as she thought back to those horrifyingly embarrassing drunk moments.

"Well what did you think was going to happen if you had that much to drink?" she responded, on the verge of cracking up again.

"I know, I know, it was stupid, but I really felt helpless in that moment," Rukia said, twirling a piece of her hair.

"I wish I had been there to see this! Hahaha! But Rukia, how exactly did he respond to your advances?"

"Well, I don't know, all I know is that I completely humiliated myself in front of everyone and I embarrassed Byakuya…Nii-sama. All I know is that he was definitely not expecting that from me and was in shock, just like everybody else. And with good reason. God, I still can't believe I did that!"

"It's ok Rukia! These things can happen to anyone! So tell me what happened the day after? Did you and Kuchiki-taichou talk about it?"

"W-well…I just apologized and told him I didn't remember anything of what I did that night, but was still sorry for whatever disturbance I caused."

"What?! WHY? Why would you do that!? Now you're right back at square one." Rangiku sighed, shaking her head.

"Well, what else could I say? 'I'm sorry I tried to kiss you in my drunken stupor Nii-sama'? I already felt humiliated enough as is, I just hope he never brings it up again."

"Why would you want that?! Rukia, you were actually getting somewhere- and you just threw your chance out the window!"

"What chance?" Rukia asked, disbelieving.

"The chance to pursue this! You clearly like him!"

Rukia blushed. "I-I…There's just no way it would happen, Rangiku-san. You know how he is."

Rangiku sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past hour. "Ok, so he's literally done nothing out of the ordinary around you? You couldn't sense anything different about him at all?"

Rukia blushed, staring at the ground as she dragged her foot around nervously. "Um… I don't know if this counts but he did kiss me on the forehead."

Rangiku stared at her in utter shock. "Wait- WHAT?! Now this is definitely something to celebrate!" she said as she headed for her drink cabinet.

"He probably just meant it in a brotherly way, Rangiku-san. It's really nothing."

"Uhh when it's concerning Kuchiki-taichou- it definitely means something girl! How did it happen?"

"Well he kind of just asked me about how I felt about marrying Renji…and whether I loved him or not."

"Uh-huh…" she said as she gulped down some of the drink.

"I answered that I obviously wasn't ready for that kind of step in my life… and that Renji was simply a friend to me."

"Awww…how excited he must've felt when you said you had no feelings for Renji."

"I highly doubt it's like that."

"This is still a big step! One that you need to properly celebrate!" Rangiku said, holding out a shot glass.

Rukia stared at the glass, reminiscing. "Oh I'm definitely not going to be drinking again for a very long time."

~ Byakuya's viewpoint ~

He had just dispatched several of his squad's members to deal with a problem in the World of the Living. Apparently, there had been an area in which the growth of Hollows had increased, enough for more members to be sent out but not enough for someone of his station to get involved personally. Shifting through his paperwork, Byakuya found his mind wandering-back to when he saw her that night, dressed so beautifully and blushing like a newlywed bride. She had even been gorgeous when she was drunk and acting stupid. She called him by his name even. He found himself smiling back at the thought and quickly brushed it away. _Where is she now?_ He noticed that Rukia had been going out a lot more than usual lately, making him wonder if it was because of something he had done. _It really wasn't that bad…Brothers can kiss their sisters on the forehead like that it doesn't mean anything._ But deep down a part of him knew he was just making up excuses for himself. It was so hard for him to look at her as a sister, especially after all that occurred. A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts and he straightened up.

"Come in."

"I hope this is not a bad time," said the white-haired sickly captain.

"Ukitake-taichou. What brings you here?"

"I wanted to discuss something regarding Rukia." At the mention of her name, his eyes flickered.

"What is it?"

"I realize you've requested me to keep Rukia away from dangerous missions as she is your sister, but to me to she is a strong and growing soldier who needs to be out there getting even stronger."

"I see. And how do you suppose she do that?"

"I wanted to let you know that I plan on dispatching her again to the World of the Living, the area where the Hollows have been growing drastically."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Don't get me wrong, Kuchiki-taichou, but Rukia is my squad member. I see potential in her and I think she will be able to handle this."

Byakuya found it increasingly difficult to hide his anger. "I see you've made up your mind. But it is Rukia who should decide this."

"Yes, I know. I will talk to her soon, I just wanted to let you know out of courtesy as she is your sister and I know you worry for her." _Did he really need to keep bringing up 'sister' again and again?_

"If anything happens to her…I will hold you personally responsible, Ukitake-taichou." He said, giving him what may have seemed like a calm and collected glance, but anyone would know better the true intentions of Byakuya Kuchiki.

"She will be fine. Don't worry! This will be like training for her. She's a strong girl."

~Rukia's viewpoint~

Rukia found herself wandering around the garden where _he_ had first asked her about her opinion on the marriage…and where he first kissed her. It was only a peck on the forehead, but it got her so excited. _What is happening to me? I need to stop this- whatever I'm feeling. I can't like him in that way._

She tried to distract herself by looking around at all the beautiful plants surrounding her. A little bird was fluttering around this red tulip, and Rukia held out her finger to see if it would land on it. Surprisingly, it did. Rukia was now staring in awe at the little bird in front of her, and started humming, as if putting on a private show for the bird. She was so engrossed in this that she didn't even notice that Byakuya was right there until he called out to her. She looked up startled, moving her hand and causing the bird to fly away.

"N-nii-sama." Rukia tried to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"You're here again."

"Ah, yes I just wanted to see the beautiful flowers in your garden…I'm sorry. If you want me to give you some privacy, I can leave right now."

"No need for that. Stay."

"O-ok, Nii-sama."

They both now turned away from each other, looking at different plants in the garden, each feeling the presence of the other and sensing the air of awkwardness.

Several minutes later, Byakuya broke the silence. "Rukia."

"Yes, Nii-sama?" She turned to face him.

"…Do you really not remember anything? From that night I mean."

 _Oh no why why why is he asking me about that now._ "Um…well...I just…" she mumbled as color rose to her cheeks.

She looked up at him. The wind was blowing slightly, ruffling his long hair a bit, but doing nothing to make him look any less elegant. In fact he looked even more beautiful, if that was even possible.

She stepped closer to him, feeling as if she was possessed. "That was a lie. I do remember."

Byakuya looked at her, giving her a look of mild surprise. "Why? And what were you trying to do?"

It was right then that it happened. Rukia didn't notice the huge tree root in front of her and tripped; Byakuya tried to save her from the fall, but ended up falling himself. Rukia landed on top of him.

She never in her life thought she would see him from this angle. He was absolutely breathtaking. His grey eyes, his sharp nose, his long and elegant hair, and perfect lips. Everything was perfection. Any straight girl would kill to be his woman.

She knew that they both should've gotten up by now, but neither moved.

Until Rukia did something so bold, she would've gotten an award from Rangiku for it.

"I was trying to…do this." Rukia said as she leaned down to give him a peck on the lips. A gentle, sweet kiss that she hoped deep down would get through to him.

She did not see the look on Byakuya's face as her eyes were closed, but as she was backing up and getting ready to apologize a million times for her crude behavior, she felt his hands reach around her, slamming her body to his as he full-on kissed her.

It was a kiss of pure desire. She felt it with every part of her soul. He opened his mouth lightly, urging Rukia to do the same and she gave in. She tasted his mouth with her tongue, and allowed him to do the same with hers, both completely wrapped in each other's embrace. Rukia wondered how someone who seemed to be so cold could feel so warm like this. Their tongues were dancing in each other's mouths. It was as if lovers who had been separated for so long by a war had become reunited in this very moment. Her body was heating up as she imagined what could be happening next, but suddenly he broke out of it. He turned to the side and Rukia also turned to look, and she saw the maid approaching. They both sat up now, still really close to one another, as they hadn't completely come out of the trance they were in seconds before.

"I… I'm very sorry to bother you Kuchiki-sama." The maid said, clearly feeling surprised as she took in their stance.

Byakuya cleared his throat and stood up immediately and Rukia followed suit.

"It's fine. What is it?"

"Someone is here to see you, sir."

"Who?"

"Lieutenant Abarai from your squad, sir. He says he must speak with you immediately."

That's it for this chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed it! And sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes or anything I was actually super tired while writing this so might've missed an error or two (but let me know and I'll fix it asap)! As always praise and constructive criticism accepted so please please review and I will try to update asap :D! It makes me really happy to read your reviews! And thanks again to all my loyal followers; you are the best! -Love, cggirl3


	6. Chapter 6

Hi guys! Sorry that I haven't updated in a while! I had midterms and my programming homework takes forever sometimes (Ugh my professor is the worst). I actually still have some work to do but after a week of straight up doing nothing but studying and homework I thought I needed a break. (Juli: I totally feel you right now there's so much stressful shit in college argh.) So here's your chapter everyone! Thanks to all my lovely reviewers: flrtita87, Juli Greenthorne, bluetonic4390, and guest reviewers as well :) It is you guys who make me even more excited to write this story than I already am! Please keep the reviews coming, reading them after a shitty day of classes/homework/studying literally brightens up my whole day :)

So this chapter is not that long compared to the others (sorry don't have a lot of time at this moment but I promise to try to update sooner, maybe in a couple days!) and there's going to be obstacles obviously, don't be too angry with this chapter XD and bear with me :)

Warning: some elements of self-harm in this chapter

Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Tite Kubo.

Chapter 6- Mistaken

~Byakuya's viewpoint~

"We will talk later," he said to Rukia without direct eye contact before walking away to meet with his lieutenant.

Byakuya struggled to keep his face expressionless as he kept thinking back to what had taken place just a few moments ago. Taking a subtle deep breath, he entered the room where the red-haired baboon was waiting for him. Byakuya sat down across from him, showing absolutely no trace of emotion, though it was clear to Renji that he was annoyed.

"Taichou, I needed to speak with you." Renji said, breaking the silence.

"What exactly was important enough for you to come here to my house?"

A maid knocked on the door, bringing in some tea. Byakuya grabbed the cup of tea, feeling a bit better as soon as he started drinking it.

"It appears the Hollow problem may be getting out of hand a bit. I thought I should go to the World of the Living to assist."

"You came here to tell me this?"

"Yes…I also wanted to let you know I've spoken with the Head Captain about marrying Rukia."

At this, Byakuya's hand tightened on his cup of tea.

"What exactly did you talk about?"

"I told him that I'd be ready to marry her whenever she is ready to become my wife."

Byakuya wanted to Senbonzakura the shit out of this guy. _Stay calm, of course this is to be expected. He likes her, probably has for a while now. But she doesn't like him. Not with all that's happened between us…_

"And? You've come to simply notify me?"

"Well…I've come to respectfully ask for her hand in marriage, as you are her one and only elder brother."

Byakuya felt as if he'd been slapped right across the face when he heard the words come out of his lieutenant's mouth. _Brother… yes that is technically what I am supposed to be isn't it?_

"It's completely Rukia's decision," Byakuya responded.

"So I'll take it you won't try to get in the way?" Renji asked, a dead serious look on his face.

"What?"

"It…it just seems like maybe Rukia may be mistaking your actions, Taichou. Maybe she is misunderstanding your brotherly affections for something more. I am just hoping that you wouldn't do anything to encourage her, you are a Kuchiki noble after all, and so is she."

"What exactly are you implying, Abarai?" Byakuya responded in a tone so cold it could rival Rukia's Sode no Shirayuki.

"I'm just saying I hope I have your consent, and I hope I may become a part of your family someday."

"Once again, that is Rukia's decision."

"Alright, Taichou. Is Rukia here? I'd like to talk to her for a bit before I leave."

"No. She is busy training and I don't want her disturbed right now. You can talk another time."

Renji looked at him for a few seconds, eyes narrowed, as if trying to figure out what exactly was going on in this man's mind.

"I will see you later, Taichou," he said before leaving. As soon as Renji left, the cup in Byakuya's hand shattered. It made a small cut across his palm and hot tea spilled, but he felt absolutely no physical pain from this.

 _Rukia, we should not have done that. It was foolish of me to lose my control in that one moment…_ Byakuya suddenly snapped back into reality.

~~Rukia's viewpoint~~

After the moment in the garden, Rukia went back to her room, her heart still pounding at what felt like a million miles per hour. She had never felt so excited before in her life. _I had my first kiss! And with Byakuya Nii-sama! He kissed me back! Does this mean he likes me too?_ But then she thought about what would happen if he really did like her. _What would this mean for him? How would the elders feel about this? He is technically my brother…_ And never had Rukia felt so conflicted in her life either. She hugged herself as she sat on her bed, thoughts from all directions exploding in her mind. Until she heard a knock.

Clearing her throat, she said, "Come in."

It was him. The man she had just shared a passionate kiss with about an hour ago. The man who made her heart pound like crazy.

"Rukia."

Rukia started climbing out of bed. She noticed the bandaged hand. "Are you alright?"

Byakuya put a hand up slightly. "It's fine, just stay there," he said, while seating himself on a chair a few feet away.

"N-nii-sama." Rukia said, clearly not expecting this.

"That's right, Rukia. That's what I am to you. Your Nii-sama. Brother." He said while staring at the ground.

"Oh, um I didn't mean…it was just out of habit, sorry. What would you prefer I call you then?"

"No, Rukia, don't apologize. That is what you should be addressing me as."

Rukia was now filled with a sense of dread. "I- I don't understand."

Byakuya now looked up at her, his steel grey eyes looking directly into hers. "What happened earlier today, I wish you were to forget it."

Rukia was too shocked to respond.

"It was a mistake, and it never should have happened. I apologize for what I did."

Rukia finally found her voice. "I…No, it's my fault…Nii-sama. I shouldn't have come on to you like that. I'm really sorry."

Byakuya simply stared at the wall now, saying nothing.

Rukia broke the silence. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you…why did you um…kiss me back?" she said, whispering the last few words.

"It was very improper of me. Forgive me, Rukia, for a moment I mistook you for her... Your sister."

At these words, Rukia felt as if her heart was just stabbed a hundred times and ripped right out of her chest.

"You…you saw her... through me?" she tried to keep the tears back by refusing to look at him.

"Yes. You just…look so much like her. I felt as if my dead wife was right before my eyes once again. I am sorry, Rukia, for my highly inappropriate behavior. It will never happen again. Let us consider this matter as something that never occurred."

"Ok…Nii-sama."

Byakuya got up from his chair getting ready to leave the room. "Good night, Rukia."

"Good night, Nii-sama." She said as he closed the door behind him.

Rukia could no longer hold back her tears.

Rukia could not get a wink of sleep that night. The conversation she had with Byakuya kept replaying in her mind. What hurt her the most was that he didn't even see her for her. He saw Hisana through her. Her older sister. This fact made Rukia feel like her heart was being carved up like a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. That kiss was meant for someone else entirely. That passion she felt coming from him in those moments, was not for her. _Snap out of it Rukia, you knew this was a possibility. Were you really expecting a normal and happy relationship from him?_

She got up out of bed to get ready and freshen up, to try to feel a little less like a zombie. Because right now she was feeling pretty damn lifeless.

After showering, she looked at herself in the mirror, suddenly feeling an urge of disgust. The violet eyes, the short, black hair with the bangs covering her face, she looked as if she could be Hisana's identical twin. It was this face, she was cursed. She just had to look like her. Rukia felt so much rage and disgust looking at herself in the mirror, that she completely lost her senses for a moment. She came out of the bathroom, grabbed her zanpakuto, and rushed back to the bathroom mirror. She grabbed onto the sword facing it towards herself. She then slashed across her right cheek, which hurt more than expected. She dropped her sword and grabbed onto her face as blood started coming out. It fucking hurt like a bitch. Trying not to scream, she snuck out and ran as fast as she could to the Squad 4 barracks.

"I still don't understand how this could've happened, Rukia-san." Hanataro said, while cleaning the wound.

"I was just being clumsy, it's not a big deal."

"You are so lucky this is not a deep wound, it could've permanently scarred your face!" He said while handing her some painkillers. _Honestly the dumbest thing I've ever done. What was I even thinking? Oh yeah I wasn't. Did I lose my brain along with my heart? So fucking stupid._

"Thank you, Hanataro. Do you happen to have anything so I could cover my face for the time-being?"

"Hmmm… I think I might have something, give me one second." He left into another room.

He resurfaced with a light fabric in hand. The face mask had some embroidery. Flowers. _Like the blades of Senbonzakura…_ Rukia shook her head to snap out of it.

"Thank you so much, Hanataro," she said while putting it on.

"Be more careful Rukia-san."

"I will."

She headed out with a new determination in mind. She was going to visit the Head Captain.

She was let in pretty quickly, it was almost as if he had expected her to come at that moment.

"Head Taichou." She addressed him with a bow as a sign of respect.

"Rukia. What brings you here today?" He looked a little surprised by the half mask on her face, but made no comment about it.

"It was regarding the matter of your proposal that I get married to Renji—I mean Lieutenant Abarai."

"Oh, yes. So have you thought about it?"

"I have decided that it would not be such a bad idea. However, I still believe it is too soon, so I request that we put this off until I feel ready. Right now my top priority is to get stronger, Head Taichou. I hope you understand this."

"Yes, it is reasonable."

"That is all I had to say, I will take my leave now if you'll excuse me."

"Oh yes go ahead. Also I request that you speak with your captain once before you leave."

"Rukia! A pleasure to see you!" said Ukitake-taichou.

"Yes, Taichou, you too."

"What happened to your face?"

"Ah I was just being really clumsy and landed on my zanpakto."

"It doesn't look like that to me…"

"It is what is, Taichou. I was just being really stupid."

He raised his eyebrows, clearly not buying it, but didn't pressure her further.

"I wanted to send you to the World of the Living but I don't know if you can handle it. Hahaha."

"Huh?"

"Did your brother not tell you about it? I informed him about it."

"Oh...uh… no he didn't."

"Alright, well what do you say? Are you up for it? I thought you'd be a good candidate because you've already been there before and I do believe this will make you stronger."

"Yes, Taichou, thank you for the opportunity. I accept the mission. I'd like to head out right now actually."

"Excellent!"

Rukia looked out at the fields. _I need to leave. I need to get away from here…_

So that's it for this chapter guys! Don't hate me too much! I also apologize if anyone was unhappy with Rukia's behavior here, I just thought having her do this would be significant as it shows she literally lost her mind for a moment (she clearly regrets it though) and it's setting up the stage for the next few chapters so yeah. Also, I've got some exciting things planned for future chapters so keep reading! I will try to update as soon as I am able to, maybe within a couple days if this week's not too hectic. I love writing this and I love that many of you are enjoying it. Please review, it always motivates me to update sooner ;)! As always praise and constructive criticism both accepted :) Love from cggirl3


	7. Chapter 7

Hi guys! So I saw your reviews and I just felt I had to write today! So thanks reviewers: Juli, bluetonic4390, and my latest one Drewyd! And Drewyd: HAHAHA yes I was laughing about that when I was writing it XD. Thanks my lovely followers for keeping me super motivated to keep writing! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review, it always makes me happy to read what you guys think after reading the chapter :)

Disclaimer: Bleach isn't mine, it belongs to Tite Kubo.

Chapter 7- Friends

~Rukia's viewpoint~

It had been a week since Rukia had left Soul Society, and boy did she feel much better after seeing her friends in the Living World. She only felt uncomfortable when people brought up things about the mask she was wearing, to which she gave them the "I was really clumsy" story. They didn't seem to buy it, but Orihime was the only one who actually pulled her aside to ask her what happened.

"It was just an accident, Orihime, no big deal," responded Rukia.

"Rukia-san…" she said with tears welling up her eyes, as she jumped forward to hug Rukia. "You know you can tell me anything right? I'm your friend and I'm always here for you."

Rukia hugged her back. "I know, Orihime. Thank you."

The others figured she would talk about it when she was ready to so they didn't bother her about it but asked if she was alright.

Ichigo initially said, "What the fuck happened to your face, Rukia?!" To which Rukia smacked him and said, "Shut up! These things happen sometimes" while giving him the accident story. Ichigo didn't push it after that, but his father on the other hand made a huge deal out of it.

When he first saw her, he freaked and said, "RUKIA! What happened to our beloved Rukia-chan's face?! Oh this is so so sad!"

Rukia mentally slapped herself for being such an idiot after having so many people ask her about it.

For most of that week, the group had been hunting Hollows. There was an increase in number but it was nothing they couldn't handle. Rukia was actually quite grateful that she at least had this to keep her mind distracted.

The whole group decided to meet up at Kisuke's shop that evening, as Yoruichi called a meeting to discuss a different type of Hollow she had seen earlier that day. It was apparently a much stronger kind of Hollow, and seemed almost human in a sense.

"I've never seen that kind of Hollow before, it was really strong. I would say it had like half the power of a Menos, maybe even more," Yoruichi explained.

"A Menos?" Rukia was surprised. Yoruichi then noticed her the veil/mask on Rukia's face, and gave her a sort of confused look.

"Ha. I can take them down no problem!" exclaimed Ichigo, with his stupid confidence as usual.

"Can you take care of one or two? Maybe even five at once? Yeah probably, but if I'm right, there's probably a lot more out there than that just waiting to come out, and if it comes to that we are going to need reinforcements, so I've already sent a message to Soul Society. It almost seemed as if this thing was a test case… By the way Rukia, everything alright here?" Yoruichi said while pointing towards her own face.

"Oh uh, yes. I was just being really clumsy and stupid." She blushed and was really glad she had the mask covering her face in that moment.

"Now now come on, let's not make the girl uncomfortable, I'm sure she feels terrible about it every time someone asks," said Kisuke, covering his face with his fan.

"The food is ready everyone! Hope you enjoy it~" said Tessai, bursting in with a huge cart filled with many dishes. He started putting all of them out on the table, where everyone gathered to eat. Orihime especially was excited to get multiple foods at once and mix them all up to her liking.

Rukia was eating the omu-rice when Yoruichi asked her, "So little Kuchiki, how's Byakuboy doing, huh?"

At this Rukia started choking on the food and Uryu handed her a glass of water quickly while Ichigo slapped her back to help get the food down. Rukia's face was now completely red. Everyone surrounded her now to make sure she was okay.

"Well damn Rukia I didn't mean to surprise you that much, sorry!" said Yoruichi.

After everyone knew she was fine, Orihime suggested they all play a card game to lighten up the mood for a while. Everyone but Yoruichi and Rukia left to the other room, as Rukia said she would join them later and Yoruichi wasn't done eating.

"He's doing fine, Yoruichi-san. Just the usual." And then she muttered under her breath, "cold, uncaring…" which unfortunately Yoruichi picked up on.

"Hmmm? Ah yes, he's changed a lot hasn't he? I still remember when he was just a rowdy little teen who was so short-tempered haha. It was so much fun to mess with him because of the adorable little reactions I would get out of him." She laughed as she thought back to a time Rukia had no idea about.

"Oh uh…you mean he wasn't always so…quiet?" For some reason it was really hard for Rukia to picture her Nii-sama as a rowdy little teen that got worked up every time Yoruichi teased him around.

"Not at all! Haha. What a little cutie he used to be. Was always looking to make his family proud, I used to visit him from time to time to mess with him, he used to get so mad but he was too weak to hurt me! Hahaha. Now he's all grown up and bitter…maybe that has something to do with his late wife…" she said as she slurped up the last of her noodles in what was probably her 10th bowl.

At the mention of this, Rukia felt her heart tighten. Had Hisana been able to see that side of him? When he was so expressive?...so alive? It was hard to imagine that Byakuya could've ever shown his emotions like that. Short-tempered too? Rukia was even jealous of Yoruichi at this point. Yoruichi had known a whole different side to her Nii-sama that she never once got to see. He barely even spoke to her at all.

"So you going to come to play the game?" Yoruichi said as she started to head into the other room.

"I actually need some fresh air, I don't feel too good. I'll join you later maybe," Rukia responded.

Yoruichi looked at her for a moment, it seemed almost like a look of pity. It looked like she was going to say something else, but decided against it.

"Alright, take care of yourself Rukia."

Rukia was sitting on the porch looking up at the night sky and moon, when someone sat down next to her.

"Soo…I heard Yoruichi talking about young Byakuya. Man can you believe it? He's so stone cold now, I can't even comprehend that he used to be so different!" Ichigo laughed.

"He's not stone cold, he just doesn't feel the need to get overexcited about every little thing." Rukia said in the tone of a noblewoman.

"HAHA. You actually sound so much like him sometimes! I guess it's because you're siblings."

"Not by blood," she snapped.

"Jeez, chill Rukia, I was just kidding."

Rukia now looked down at her feet, clearly feeling upset.

"So tell me what actually happened to your face, Rukia."

"I already told you."

He sighed. "Rukia, are you okay? Like really? I don't know what's going on, but I can just sense it. Something's wrong."

Rukia honestly wanted to cry because someone just asked her if she was okay. Ichigo must've sensed this for he moved closer to her, awkwardly at first, and then wrapped her in a hug.

"Rukia, I don't know what's wrong, but you know I'm here for you always. So whatever you need, just let me know." Ichigo said awkwardly while blushing. Ichigo never showed affection in this way for her, so it was a bit weird, though she knew he cared for her a lot and was willing to die for her when he came to save her in Soul Society.

She hugged him back tightly; she really needed a friend in this moment.

~Byakuya's viewpoint~

~A week before~

"So when exactly did she leave?" Byakuya asked casually as he sipped on his tea across from the 13th Squad Captain.

"Just a few hours ago. I'm quite surprised she didn't say goodbye to you before leaving. Though she did seem like she desperately wanted to leave as soon as possible. Maybe she missed her friends, aww."

Byakuya felt a sudden twinge of annoyance as he remembered the orange-haired kid. Everything about him annoyed Byakuya to his bones. His utter disregard for any rules. The way Rukia looked at him when he swooped in like the hero to save her from execution by the Sokyoku. However, there was one thing he was glad about. He was glad that this dumb carrot-top Kurosaki kid saved Rukia. He was glad he was defeated in that moment. At least someone had saved Rukia. If Rukia were lost to him forever he wouldn't know what to do. Every moment he had to pretend like he was completely okay with her impending death, killed him inside, he so badly wanted to protect her, to just run away with her and keep her safe. But he had to uphold the law, because if he wouldn't follow it, who would then? _Damn you Ichigo Kurosaki_.

And he had wanted to murder Aizen and Gin right then and there; he felt he would've had he not been in such a weak condition at the time. Just thinking about how Aizen gave the order to kill her made his blood boil.

"I hardly think it's for the social gatherings; she is there because you've sent her to investigate, is she not?" Byakuya said coolly.

"Yes of course."

Byakuya felt a hint of sadness when he realized that Rukia didn't want to come see him before leaving. But then again it was probably for the best, because he probably would've said something crazy like 'don't go, stay here with me where you're safe.' He then thought back to the kiss they shared for a moment but immediately snapped out of it.

"Everything alright Kuchiki-taichou?" inquired Ukitake.

"Yes. I will get going now. Thank you for the tea." Byakuya stood up and was getting ready to leave when they got the signal from the Hell butterflies. All the captains were to meet at once in the main office as soon as they got the message.

"We have gotten information regarding a new type of Hollow in Karakura Town. We don't know its full capabilities as of yet, but we know that they are extremely strong, one could've been at Menos level and was able to shoot out ceros," the head Taichou announced. "We are not sure yet but think this could potentially be a part of Aizen's plan, so I'd like to dispatch a few of you to personally keep this situation in control in the World of the Living, while the rest of us come up with a more detailed plan to be prepared for the worst case scenarios."

Everyone started murmuring at the mention of Aizen.

"Silence please. I'd like to request that Captains of Squads 10 and 11, Hitsugaya Taichou and Zaraki Taichou head on to the World of the Living. Feel free to take your lieutenants and any officers in your squad that you think may be of use to you. Also, Captain of 12th Squad, Kurotsuchi Taichou, your lab and research services are required immediately. Does anyone have anything else to add?"

Byakuya cleared his throat. "I would also prefer to go the World of the Living. I believe I can do more than here, Head Taichou."

Most of the captains turned around to look at him in surprise. Byakuya couldn't care less in that moment.

The head captain slightly opened his eyes, clearly surprised with Byakuya's initiation in this situation in front of everyone else. "Hmm. So be it then. I am officially dispatching the captains of Squad 6, 10 and 11. Effective immediately."

Byakuya for some odd reason, felt some sort of excitement that he was going to the World of the Living. His mind started wandering and he caught himself thinking about how it might be because he would get to see Rukia. _No! I'm going there to carry out my duties, that's all it is. Rukia is supposed to be my sister. So there's nothing wrong with wanting to go there to protect her. Rukia's my sister. That's all._

Somewhere deep inside him though, he knew that was a lie.

~Rukia's viewpoint~

They must've been hugging for a really long time, because all of a sudden Orihime popped up along with Rangiku and Captain Hitsugaya following behind her…and Byakuya trailing behind them.

Ichigo and Rukia were still in a hugging position when Orihime ran up to them and said, "Rukia! Some of our reinforcements have arrived already, look your brother—" she lost her voice for a moment when she clearly saw what they were doing.

Rangiku's eyes widened as she caught sight of what was going on. "OH MY GOD. Alright everyone let's just head back out, there's absolutely nothing to see here at all!" she said while starting to push back Orihime, her captain, and Byakuya. As soon as she touched Byakuya though, he threw her a death glare so chilling that she immediately took her hands off.

It was then that Rukia and Ichigo split apart faster than lightning. Ichigo was blushing like crazy and at a loss for words.

"Rangiku-san! Hitsugaya-taichou! Nii-sama…" Rukia's voice slightly faltered near the end.

Orihime was clearly hurt by what she just witnessed, but covered it up with a smile that didn't reach her eyes and asked Rukia if she was alright and once she said yes, ran over to ask her "Kurosaki-kun" about what was going on.

Rangiku then pushed out Hitsugaya-taichou and looked back once to wink at Rukia. Rukia was left standing there awkwardly in front of her adopted brother.

"Nii-sama…"

"I was expecting you to investigate and help fight since you came here, not to be doing… things like this." Byakuya said icily.

"I I I…It's not like that…um…"

He then really got a good look at her and finally noticed the thin veil she was wearing which covered literally half her face. Rukia noticed the subtle change in his expression; that icy exterior melted just a little to show something like confusion, and perhaps even worry.

"Rukia come meet me outside on the trail near the park. Immediately." He flash-stepped out of there.

Ichigo noticed this and said, "What the fuck is going on?"

"Ichigo, I'll be back later. And thank you," Rukia said as she jumped up on the roof of the building, getting ready to race towards the trail.

She stopped near the park and Byakuya immediately appeared before her eyes.

He stepped closer to her looking at her face, making Rukia feel very self-conscious, and causing her to look down at the ground as she blushed like an idiot. He then immediately made her look up directly at him by tilting up her face towards him with his hand. This small touch caused Rukia's heartbeat to spike up immediately.

"Now tell me exactly what happened to you, Rukia," he said, his stormy grey eyes piercing right into her soul.

So that's it for this chapter folks! I have a lot of exciting stuff planned out for this fic hehe, and here on out it might stray from the actual plotline (which is to be expected considering it's a fanfic) but I am trying to keep some elements the same and hope you are liking it. (btw sorry and let me know if I have any grammatical errors or something I tend to write these late at night so may have skipped over a few errors) And please don't forget to leave a review! Reading your reviews are like better than candy for me! And that's saying a lot XD As always praise and constructive criticism both accepted :) I'll try to update later on this week if possible but if not then next week for sure! If you guys review for me though then maybe I'll update sooner haha ;) Love from cggirl3


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! So all I could think about for most of the week was updating this fic LOL! And reading your reviews always makes me really happy so thank you: flrtita87, Juli, bluetonic4390, Drewyd! I love all my loyal followers {3! I'm actually already working on Chapter 9 so it should be out shortly :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, I also have a lot planned out so this fic may be longer than I originally planned (I hope you all stick around though!) and I just want to thank you guys and my close friends for keeping me motivated to keep writing :) Please review (or even PM me if you have any suggestions or just want to say something), it always makes me super happy :) Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, Tite Kubo does.

Chapter 8- Not a Bad Choice

~Rukia's viewpoint~

"Uh…I…I tripped over my zanpakto…I was just training and I guess I just fell right on it," Rukia stuttered while answering.

"Rukia, do not lie to me," Byakuya said, as he reached for the veil and took it off swiftly. The thin scar could be seen clearly now. Rukia refused to look into his eyes.

"I-I'm not. I was just really clumsy. It's not a big deal… Nii-sama. It will heal with some time."

He now slightly brushed by the cheek with scar with his thumb, holding the side of her face in his hand. Rukia looked at him, and for just a moment, she thought she saw a hint of sadness in his eyes.

She now looked back up at him, not really sure what to do. _Is it me he sees right now? Or is it…her?_

"Alright then, be more careful from now on." He said as he stepped back, his initial cold demeanor returned.

"Yes, I will, Nii-sama."

Suddenly, a certain shinigami jumped down from out of nowhere, catching Rukia by surprise. Byakuya, however, did not flinch at all.

"Rukia!" Renji said, and then turned to look at his captain. "Taichou."

Rukia was surprised to see her friend here. "Renji! When did you get here?" _And how much did he see? Would he think it's weird… did he see my interaction with Nii-sama?_

"I was actually training on my own, in Soul Society. I got the message about the new Hollows a bit late, but got here as fast as I could. I went directly to Urahara's shop, but they said you just left to the park to talk with Kuchiki Taichou so now I'm here." Rukia felt relieved and grateful to Renji now that she wouldn't have to continue that really awkward conversation with her Nii-sama.

"Training on your own, huh? Without even telling me?" Rukia jokingly punched his arm.

"And Rukia…I heard about your conversation with the Head Taichou, regarding our marriage." Renji said, while throwing a look at Byakuya from the corner of his eyes.

Rukia did not want to be having this conversation right now, especially while Byakuya was right there.

"Hahaha, Renji, we can just talk about that later, yeah?" Rukia said nervously, while looking back at Byakuya. He did not show any hint of emotion. He simply closed his eyes for a moment, and flash-stepped out of there, leaving Rukia and Renji there alone.

"Rukia, I heard you hurt your face while training. How the fuck does that even happen?"

"Shut up, Renji! It can happen to anyone."

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say."

"And Renji, regarding the marriage…Could we just keep this to ourselves for now?"

"Uhhh…I would say yes, but…" he grinned nervously, moving away a bit.

"Renji, what did you do?!"

"Well I heard that Ichigo put his hands on you, sooo…I may have told him to back off a bit."

"Renji! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Rukia was now fuming with rage.

"Look I'm sorry okay?! But they'll all find out eventually anyways so I don't see what the problem is."

"The problem is we don't even know WHEN, and I think it's insane that you would even think about telling any of them so soon!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Let's just go back now, huh?" He paused for a moment and then asked, "By the way, what were you talking about with Taichou here?"

"It doesn't matter; let's go."

~Byakuya's viewpoint~

He had sensed his lieutenant coming and had immediately distanced himself from Rukia, so as not to give any wrong ideas. Abarai had already sensed something weird between them and Byakuya did not want to confirm anything for him.

He was keeping his cool, though it made him feel…well, something not pleasant when he saw how close Renji and Rukia actually were. Close enough for Rukia to be punching his arm around jokingly and laughing with him. _I'm not jealous. It's just very childish and immature to be displaying that behavior in front of me. That's all._

But then Byakuya had heard Renji say something regarding the marriage while looking directly at him, as if to flaunt it. It took all of Byakuya's strength not to slice the irritating red-head into pieces.

And then Rukia laughed it off nervously saying she wanted to talk later about it; clearly she was not comfortable talking about this subject with him present. He got the message so left immediately. Looking at the smug look on his lieutenant was making him itch for a fight, one that shouldn't be taking place, so he thought the best decision was to just leave them alone.

He immediately got back to the shop, and noticed that Ichigo had an ice pack on the side of his head with the orange-haired human girl next to him, clearly worried. Everyone else was chattering away.

Lieutenant Matsumoto walked up towards him, catching Byakuya by surprise. "Kuchiki- Taichou! Did you know Rukia and Renji are getting married!?"

He felt his heart tighten, but kept himself composed. "I knew it was a possibility, yes."

"And you're completely okay with this?"

"It is not my decision."

"Yes, but you are technically Rukia's brother. Surely you must have something to say about it."

"I am not sure what you are expecting me to say. The elders thought it a wise decision, and I have nothing against it."

Matsumoto sighed in pity, as if she knew exactly what was really on his mind. Byakuya did not like this at all.

"I just think maybe Rukia's not thinking through this clearly you know? Maybe you could talk to her." Matsumoto said. _She is really out of line here. Who does she think she is?_

"She can make her own decisions," Byakuya responded, looking over in Ichigo's direction for a second. Somebody had punched him really hard, as bruising was present.

Matsumoto caught this. "If you're wondering what happened, well let me tell you. Lieutenant Abarai finds out about the…well… intimate moment Ichigo and Rukia shared, absolutely freaks out about it, and punches him right there. The lieutenant was all like, 'Ichigo, don't you dare touch my woman ever again!' Ahhh it was kind of romantic actually."

"I see." Byakuya responded, while walking away. He didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now. Abarai had referred to Rukia as "my woman." _He called her his woman? He's behaving too out of line. They are not even married yet. How dare he…_

At that moment, the two newly-engageds walked in. Along with the Squad 11 Captain, his lieutenant, and third and "fifth" seats respectively. This is when literally all became chaos.

Everyone rushed over to Renji and Rukia wanting to confirm the news, and Captain Kenpachi Zaraki saw Ichigo and immediately yelled out, "Ichigo let's have a match right now!" To which the orange-haired kid instantly got up saying he had work to do at home and ran right out the front door. _Pathetic._

Fifth Seat Yumichika, while brushing through his hair with his fingers, made his way over to Rukia.

"Is it true you're going to marry Abarai? A pity, you're much too beautiful for someone like him if you ask me."

At this, Renji nearly punched the pretty boy's face, but Rukia held him back. Byakuya wanted to laugh at this but kept himself composed. _Yumichika got one thing right._

Kisuke Urahara cleared his throat. "Alright alright settle down everyone. Now there are just way too many people here, and we just can't house you all. And because I'm nice," he took out some small rectangular plastic thing which Byakuya had never seen in his life before, "I am going to give you guys this thing called a credit card so you can stay at a hotel temporarily. So do any of you here know how to use this?"

Matsumoto jumped out. "Yes, I do! I use that when I go shopping so I know exactly how to use it! I also know a pretty good hotel in the area!"

At this, Captain Hitsugaya responded, "Do I even want to know why you know these things, Matsumoto?"

"Hahaha, Taichou, you should be happy! You all can count on me!"

Urahara then said, "Alright here you go then Matsumoto-san. Your gigais are all set to go and in that room over there, and I'm assuming you all have the means to leave them readily? But if not I do have some mod souls to take your place! And also, we have some food if you all want to stay here to eat dinner first and then leave. Help yourselves!"

Everyone stampeded over to the dining table. Byakuya was reluctant, but decided he might as well eat something because he did feel a bit hungry. He grabbed some bread, noticed there was some tea and feeling slightly happier at this, poured himself a cup.

"So when did you guys officially get engaged? Is there a wedding date set?" Matsumoto asked, throwing over a glance at Byakuya. _Why does she keep looking over at me as if she's expecting me to do something?_

"We're not really sure about when yet exactly…And the elders wanted us to get married so…" Rukia said shyly.

"Yeah, but it's your decision right? They can't exactly force it upon you."

"Yes, Rangiku-san. It was my decision. They're not forcing me, I'm actually alright with marrying Renji- I mean Lieutenant Abarai."

Byakuya was officially done listening to this bullshit. He got up and calmly walked out, but he was sure nearly everyone in the room noticed his more-than-usual unhappy attitude.

He didn't really care about any of it though, he just needed to get out.

~Rukia's viewpoint~

"Alright, Rukia, come on." Rangiku said as she opened the back door.

"Huh?" Rukia said.

"We need to talk right now! Come on, let's go outside."

Everybody was too busy still talking and eating so didn't notice when Rangiku and Rukia left the room.

"What is it, Rangiku-san?" Rukia asked.

Rangiku sighed. "Alright Rukia tell me what really happened."

"What?"

"Why are you suddenly engaged to Renji? And what the hell happened to your face? You have a scar."

Rukia sighed. "It doesn't seem like a bad decision, I'll have to get married someday, right? Renji's not a bad choice for me. And I just hurt myself accidentally while training; it's no big deal."

"'Renji's not a bad choice'? Are you kidding me? You're clearly in love with someone else!"

"Forget it Rangiku-san, I know for sure now that he will never see me in that way. If anything I'm just a reminder of his late wife that's all."

Rangiku's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. Did you do this to your face on purpose?!"

"N-no! That's insane!" Rukia started to panic. Hearing it from Rangiku like this was really embarrassing her. It was really dumb of her to do that in the first place. _And pathetic._

"Rukia! I can tell when you're lying. Oh my god you poor thing! I cannot believe the nerve of that man! What exactly did he say to you that hurt you so much, huh?" Rangiku said, clearly angry.

"Just leave it Rangiku-san, I really don't want to talk about this. It was a temporary moment of insanity, that's all. Please don't tell anyone about it."

"Oh, Rukia dear," Rangiku said as she smothered Rukia in a tight hug.

"R-Rangiku-san, I can't breathe."

"Oh oops sorry! The problems I have to deal with because of my big boobs," Rangiku said as she sighed. "So are you really okay now Rukia? And you're sure about your decisions and everything?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Thank you Rangiku-san, for being here for me."

"Of course! Talk to me anytime okay? You can come over to my hotel room anytime alright? We can do some girls night out stuff if you want, too. I'll text you the hotel and room number as soon as I get my key. No wait! Why don't you just stay with me in my room?"

"No, that's okay, I'm just more comfortable at Ichigo's place."

"Are you sure? Just know you're welcome anytime."

"Yes, and thank you, Rangiku-san."

~Byakuya's viewpoint~

Everybody was in their gigais so the humans would be able to see them. They must've looked like an odd group apparently, because the woman behind the counter kept staring at all of them, as if she were surprised that they would ever come together like this. Lieutenant Matsumoto got them all the key cards for their rooms after she swiped the "credit card" on some weird metallic device thing. She then signed on it, and the lady at the desk handed her the key cards. This hotel was actually quite big, the nice lighting and soft music in the lounge contributed to the ambient atmosphere. It was very calming for Byakuya.

"Alright so most of you will be on the fourth floor," she said as she handed over the key cards to the fellow shinigamis, "Kuchiki-taichou, do you mind taking the fifth floor with me?"

"Excuse me?" Byakuya said, a hint of 'what the fuck' in his tone.

"It's separate rooms, Taichou."

"Oh. Yes that is fine."

"Great! Let's go to the elevator everyone! Once we get to our floors I will show you how to get in and out of your rooms."

After seeing it done nearly ten times, Byakuya was certain he could get the key card to open his door. So as he saw Matsumoto coming over to his door to help, Byakuya said, "It's fine, I know how to do this."

"Kuchiki-Taichou."

"What is it?"

"It's about Rukia."

"Persistent, aren't you? Though I'm not sure what it is exactly that you want me to do."

"Taichou, she hurt herself."

"What?"

"I'm sure you've noticed the scar on her face. She did that to herself."

"She told me it happened while she was training."

She snorted. "And you believed her?"

"I don't appreciate that tone, Lieutenant Matsumoto."

"Look, I'm not sure what happened, but what I do know is that she's deeply hurt. She was hurt enough to give herself a cut on her own face. Maybe I am overstepping, but as her friend I just had to let you know because I'm worried about her. She's staying in Ichigo's room, if you wanted to talk to her."

Byakuya opened the door to his room. "You're right. You are overstepping."

At this Matsumoto muttered something under her breath that was too low for Byakuya to hear.

"Good night, Taichou." She went into her room.

As soon as he heard her door close, he went inside his room and immediately got himself out of the gigai, flash-stepping out of there as fast as he could. _Rukia cut herself? On purpose? And because of me? This makes no sense. Why would she even THINK about doing something like that? She's clearly not in her right state of mind._

~Rukia's viewpoint~

Rukia told Renji she'd be staying with Rangiku in the hotel, as she thought telling him that she'd be staying with Ichigo after the incident that took place earlier that night probably wouldn't be such a good idea. Rukia was lying down in Ichigo's closet, unable to sleep, when suddenly the sound of glass breaking startled her. She opened the closet door to find scattered glass all around on the floor. She was not at all expecting this. Luckily, she was already in her shinigami form, ready to fight if necessary.

"Byakuya, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! YOU JUST BROKE MY WINDOW!" Ichigo yelled out.

Byakuya completely ignored him as his eyes scanned the room, until they finally fell on Rukia.

"Nii-sama!" Rukia called out, surprised.

He did not look happy at all. Not that Byakuya ever did look happy. But Rukia could just sense this aura of anger emanating from him that usually wasn't there.

He flash stepped over to Rukia within one second, lifting her up like she was some lightweight doll, bridal style. Rukia was completely caught off-guard by this. Ichigo certainly wasn't expecting it either.

"Byakuya, what the hell is going on?" Ichigo asked, now getting up out of his bed.

"Another time, Ichigo Kurosaki. Do not even think about following me." He said in an ice-cold tone of absolute authority, as he flash-stepped out of the room with a flustered Rukia into the cold night.

That's it for this chapter! But don't worry the next one should be out very soon (so please review ;))! There'll be more action in the upcoming chapters and the entrance of new and fave characters of mine as well (spoiler alert: Grimmjow's one of them XD), so sorry if this one wasn't all that exciting! Also, the fic will be starting to stray further from the original work as I'm coming up with some original plot points and I hope you all will find it exciting :D! I actually really like Rangiku so made her as one of Rukia's close friends here, I'm really liking their friendship and hope you all are too. Don't forget to review- and as always praise and constructive criticism both accepted :)! - Love from cggirl3


	9. Chapter 9

Hi guys! So here's Chapter 9! Hope you enjoy it hehe and thanks all my followers and reviewers (especially bluetonic4390 who gave a review like right away!). I hope you all enjoy this chapter :) Please review and I'll try to update as soon as I can :D Also listen to Suffer by Charlie Puth while reading the second half/end segment if possible and let me know what you think XD

Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Tite Kubo.

Warning: some mature content ;)

Chapter 9- Burden

~Rukia~

Within a few minutes, they arrived in front of a hotel room. Byakuya used the key card to open the door, not putting down Rukia until they were inside the room with the door closed behind them.

"Wh-what's going on, Nii-sama? Is everything okay?" Rukia asked, genuinely confused at his current state.

"Rukia, I am forbidding you to participate in any sort of fight for a long time to come. Hand over your zanpakto."

"What? No! Why?"

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and then held his hand out, expectant.

Rukia grabbed onto her zanpakto with all her strength. She was not going to let this happen. Not when she worked so hard to get this far.

"At least tell me why!" Rukia said.

"Is it true you gave yourself that scar?" He asked, and it seemed to Rukia like he was struggling immensely to keep himself calm.

"Wh-what? No! That-that doesn't make any sense, I told you it happened by accident!" _Shit how can he know? Did Rangiku-san tell him? Damn it why!?_

It looked as if Byakuya might literally explode, the calm icy exterior he usually had was starting to melt. He cornered her, putting his hand out to the wall, leaving her no escape.

"Do not lie to me Rukia. You are not leaving here until I get an honest answer from you. And believe me when I say I can keep you trapped here as long as I want if I so wish it," he said, his usually calm cloudy grey eyes now stormy, as he looked into Rukia's.

"I-I…Okay, it was just one moment of stupidity, I was just… annoyed with myself." Rukia tried to say this as calmly as possible, though she was sure he could've heard her heart hammering away like crazy.

"Annoyed with yourself? You cut yourself because you were annoyed with yourself? I was right. You are clearly not in your right state of mind to fight. You shouldn't be anywhere near a sword."

"No! I'm sorry! It was dumb of me, it-it won't happen again."

"You're damn right it won't happen again, Rukia. I'll be making sure of that."

Rukia found it hard to believe that this was her Nii-sama in front of her; she never saw him get so worked up over anything before like this.

"Please, let me fight! I-I need this! You can't just take this away from me." Rukia was starting to feel really miserable.

"Then why did you do it? Why would you ever even think about hurting yourself? Is it because I…" He was clearly hesitating to finish his thoughts.

Rukia refused to look into his eyes and so turned her head towards the window.

"Kuchiki-taichou, why did you even bother saving me?" _Rukia keep it together, do not cry right now._

"What?"

"Am I not just a burden to you? From day one, all I've been is trouble for you, right? Even if I look like… her, I hardly think it's worth it," Rukia said with a tinge of disgust in her tone.

Byakuya backed away. "Is that what you think of me?"

Rukia stepped towards the window, but turned back to face Byakuya. "It doesn't matter. Please just let me fight. If you care at all, then you'll know this is what I need, Kuchiki-taicho."

"Why do you call me so?"

"Sorry, then…Nii-sama."

Rukia wanted to ask him one more thing, but wasn't sure if she should. _Oh fuck it, might as well._

"Answer me one thing?"

"Yes?"

"What do you think of me getting engaged to Renji?" She looked at him, almost desperately, hoping he would give her some kind of answer that would indicate his unhappiness towards the matter.

"There's nothing to think of it. It was decided by the elders so you are making the right decision."

"So that's it? You're totally okay with it?"

"What reason would I have to not be?"

"Never mind, I've gotten my answer," Rukia responded. "Good night, Nii-sama."

She opened the window, ready to jump out and go back to Ichigo's place, when suddenly she felt Byakuya grab onto her arm.

"You will be staying at Kurosaki's house?" he asked.

"Yes, is there something wrong with that?"

"Seeing as now you're an engaged woman, I would think so. Is Renji Abarai alright with this?"

Rukia took a deep breath, clearly annoyed. "Fine, I will stay with Lieutenant Matsumoto then," she said, getting ready to leap out.

"Her room is that way," said Byakuya, pointing to his door.

"I just need some fresh air first, that's all."

"Rukia…one more thing. Do anything stupid like that ever again and I will personally make sure you never come in contact with a sword again, even your own zanpakto. I will keep you prisoner in the Kuchiki house for all eternity if I deem it necessary, am I making myself clear?"

Rukia gulped. "Yes, Nii-sama. I understand."

"You may go now."

Rukia swooped out as quickly as possible. She didn't know where she was going, but she had to get away from Byakuya. She was walking through the streets when her phone signaled a Hollow was nearby. She ran as fast as she could to get to it. She was ready to fight.

Rukia had defeated the 16th "arrancar" with the First Dance of her Sode no Shirayuki, but once the 6th showed up, she knew the previous one had been nothing compared to him. The level of their reiatsus was worlds apart. Rukia knew she wasn't ready to take him on and she was worried for Ichigo as well so she yelled out for him to run away, but by then this new and stronger beast had already impaled her.

She awoke to a warm orange beaming light and saw Orihime.

"Orihime!"

"Rukia-san please just stay in place, you're still not healed yet completely!" Orihime exclaimed.

Rukia now looked around, and realized she was in a hotel room. One that looked exactly like the one Byakuya had brought her to earlier on that night.

"Wait, how did I get here? And how is Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

"Oh! Your brother brought you here immediately after I'd taken care of your wound for the most part, and I helped heal Kurosaki-kun before coming here. He was injured as well but not as badly as you Rukia-san."

"Is…my brother here?"

"No, he's at the shop with everyone else, but he wanted you to rest here."

"So what exactly happened with everyone else?"

Orihime sighed. "Apparently more of these things which are called "arrancars" showed up in other parts of the town as well, so everyone was fighting. But they backed up for some reason and left back into their world when another one of them showed up. We think that this new one might be the leader of all of them."

"They just left? How?"

"This leader, who's called Ulquiorra, just ripped a hole into space, like a Menos does and they all followed him through. Rukia-san, I'm worried these arrancars are much stronger than we thought."

"It's alright Orihime, we will be able to defeat them with all of our power combined." Rukia said this to give her friend hope, but she knew it was a lie. Though the wound that had been inflicted earlier was no longer physically present, it still felt like it was very much there.

"I should probably get going now, but just call me and let me know if you need anything okay?" Orihime said with a sad smile.

As if on cue, the sound of the key card sliding in was heard and Byakuya entered the room.

Orihime bowed to show respect and said, "Kuchiki sir, I've done all I can to heal Rukia. I think now all she needs is some rest and she should be feeling back to normal very soon."

"I see. Thank you," he said.

"It's no problem at all!" Orihime said, and then turning back to Rukia, "Take care Rukia and let me know if you need me to do anything at all for you."

"Thank you Orihime," Rukia said as her friend left the room.

"Nii-sama are you alright? They didn't hurt you right?"

"No, they left before I could fight any of them."

Rukia was relieved. "I'm glad you're not hurt."

"Rukia, you should be thinking about yourself right now. You're the one who got hurt."

"It's ok, I'm all better now thanks to Orihime."

Byakuya sat down next to the bed Rukia was currently lying on. "It appears I would be right that you weren't ready to fight."

"What? No! I-"

"But, I heard how you were able to take out one of them. And for that I am proud of you." He said as he put her hand over her head and slightly patted it.

"I-oh. Um, thank you Nii-sama." Rukia got up now, ready to leave the room. "I should probably leave now; it's really late."

"Leave? To where? Just stay here."

Rukia blushed, her thoughts heading into the rated-R zone. She quickly pushed away those wild thoughts and mentally slapped herself. _Rukia snap out of it, it's clear he doesn't see you like that at all._

"No I can't do that, this is your room. I'll be out of your way. I can just go stay with Rangiku or something."

"Rukia, I am ordering you to stay here. At least for tonight."

"B-but where would you sleep then?"

"I can sleep on the floor, it's not a big deal."

"Wh-what? No way! I couldn't have you do that for me."

"Then would you rather I sleep on the bed with you?"

Rukia turned as red as a beet root. "Uh… I-uhh…"

"Just get some rest Rukia."

"I-okay." Rukia figured it was useless to argue, but she knew she literally would not be able to get any rest knowing that he was in the room with her. The last time she had spent the night in his room was after that embarrassing incident when she got drunk. _I literally humiliated myself and Nii-sama in front of the elders._ She cringed just thinking about it.

"Good night, Rukia."

"Good night, Nii-sama."

~Byakuya~

What a terrible night that was. First, he finds out Rukia's engaged to his lieutenant, then he finds out Rukia had actually cut herself on purpose, and then that she had gotten badly injured in battle. _It appears you just can't stay out of trouble, can you Rukia?_ He then thought back to what she said about how she thought she was just a burden to him. And how she thought the only reason he'd ever save her is because she resembled Hisana. _Rukia, is that really what you think? Can you really not tell how much I worry for you?_ But then again it was his fault for never really showing her the care she so clearly desired. And then she had asked him about his view on her impending marriage. _And what did you say? It was the elders' decision so you're making the right choice? This sounds fucking ridiculous even for you, Byakuya._

She had looked at him as if she was expecting him to say "don't get married to him" and he really had wanted to say that, but held back. What good would come out of saying something like that? He would just be further complicating the situation. _Besides, she's the one who decided to get engaged to him. No one made her. She went herself and told the Head Captain._

Byakuya could sense that Rukia couldn't fall asleep as she kept moving around, but after a half an hour or so he finally felt her aura calm down. He then got up to see and saw that she was finally asleep. He knew she could've just stayed with Lieutenant Matsumoto or even the healer human girl Orihime, but he just wanted her near him for some reason. He would just feel better knowing that he would be right here next to her to protect her.

Rukia looked so peaceful now. Her usually tightly-knit together eyebrows of serious expression were now relaxed. _She's so beautiful like this…_ Without even thinking about it, he leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. She stirred slightly in her sleep, but did not awake. Byakuya panicked, immediately jumping back.

 _You fucking idiot! What are you doing?!_ Byakuya wanted to literally slap himself for his stupidity. How would he explain herself to him if she did awake? _Have you lost your mind, you fool? That's your sister! Your sister who is to wed Renji one day…_

Byakuya decided he needed to take a walk outside before he could even think about getting some sleep.

Byakuya finally returned back to his hotel room, swiping in the key card to get into his room and then he shut the door behind him. He was expecting Rukia to be there, in the bed and asleep.

What he was not expecting was for her to be there, wearing makeup and sexy black lingerie that made her look utterly irresistible. She had on a nice lacy black bra, outlining her small but beautiful breasts, and lovely matching underwear to go along with it. Black had never looked sexier to Byakuya than it did in this moment.

"Rukia, what the-" Byakuya said, clearly surprised, but wasn't given a chance to finish as she got up and strolled right over to him.

"There you are, I was waiting for you," she said seductively, looking straight into his eyes. She had put on eyeliner that nicely outlined her perfect violet eyes. Her lips had on a light red lipstick, making them look full and stunning. She now proceeded to kiss him passionately, which completely caught Byakuya off guard. She then slowly traced down on his body with her hand, stopping right over his crotch. She then grabbed onto his manhood lightly, and started rubbing over it. Byakuya gasped, "Oh..woah." It felt damn good. He could already feel himself getting hard, and his clothes weren't even off yet.

Rukia laughed and then took his hands in hers and led him to the bed, eventually settling on top of him.

"Rukia, I don't understand-"

"Shh, shh…" she said while putting a finger to his lips. "I know you've been wanting this for a while now and I have been too. I want you Byakuya. Right here, right now. I want to fuck you."

Rukia then continued to take off his shinigami robes, so expertly as if she'd done this before. She started kissing him full on the lips and then moved to lick and kiss right by his ear, which triggered Byakuya to start breathing irregularly. She then proceeded to kiss and lick over his chest, going lower and lower with each touch. Byakuya felt as if he were in heaven. Rukia had no idea the things she was doing to him right now. Actually, she probably knew exactly what she was doing, considering she had him completely under her spell in this moment. He knew he should be stopping her, but he didn't want to. He _had_ been wanting this for some time, to be quite honest, he was just too afraid to admit it to himself. She came back up to kiss him on his lips again, and Byakuya kissed back hard. He then rapidly switched positions with her so that now he was the one on top, exploring her body.

"Ooh…" she moaned lightly as he squeezed her breasts while kissing her. "Yes, Byakuya, yes…I've been wanting this for so long…ooh…"

Hearing her moans under him got him so excited, he was certain she was able to feel that too. He started kissing on her neck and proceeded to go lower.

"Nii-sama…" he suddenly heard some echo of a whisper around him.

"Rukia?"

The Rukia underneath him responded, "I'm right here babe."

"Nii-sama? Nii-sama?..." The echoes got louder.

~~  
Byakuya startled awake to a worried Rukia's face.

"Nii-sama, I'm so sorry to wake you but we've been getting calls from Kisuke Urahara, he wants us to meet at his shop as soon as we can."

"Oh, uh, yes…go ahead with Lieutenant Matsumoto, I'll be there shortly, I just need to freshen up."

"Alright then I will see you there." Rukia got up and left the room.

 _What the hell was that dream? I can't believe your subconscious would make up something as crazy as that Byakuya!_ Byakuya got up and tried to stop thinking about just how much he was enjoying that wild dream. _Yup, it would appear I am quite literally losing my mind now…_

That's it for this chapter guys! XD sorry if you were expecting it to actually be happening haha, well it'll get there eventually though ;) I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm literally staying up late to work on this fic XD! Please review- praise + constructive criticism are both accepted; I'm always happy after reading reviews and 100x more motivated to stay up late working on writing chapters for this fic LOL. I'll try to update sometime this week if possible but I'm not sure yet; what I can promise is I'll definitely consider writing a new chapter sooner if you guys write me reviews ;) so keep them coming! Love from cggirl3


	10. Chapter 10

Hello there my lovely readers/followers! Before I say anything else, shout out to my latest reviewers: Dreaming Haven, Julz, bluetonic4390 and guest reviewers as well! You all are amazing people and I wanted to say thank you for taking just even a moment of your time to leave behind your thoughts on my fic :), it makes me really happy that you guys are enjoying it! And to Dreaming Haven: I totally agree with you, I could never bring myself to ship ByaHisa for the reason that I could just never like Hisana. Being an older sister myself, I know I never could've left my younger sister like that no matter what, so it bugs me that Hisana literally didn't say anything to anyone until she was literally on her deathbed (like she could've gone back for her or something way before it got to that). So I don't think I would've shipped them even if she were still alive, because I love Byakuya's complex character but hate Hisana's shallowness (sorry to any fans of Hisana), so I truly think Rukia would be a much better match for him ;) (as you said she never would've abandoned anyone like that, she was always selfless since young). Also for my followers who are big IchiRuki shippers: I do plan on writing a short fic for them soon, kind of an alternate what-should-have-been-canon ending thanks to Kubo's disaster. Not sure when I'll actually start writing it yet, but I have a rough outline so it will be out eventually, maybe sometime in December :). Alright wow if you read this much of my ranting, I commend you lol. Once again, thanks reviewers/followers and I hope you enjoy this chapter, it is my longest one yet! Please review and thank you!

Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Tite Kubo.

Chapter 10- You Are Not the Only One

~Rukia~

Rukia went to the shop, thinking the whole way about the dream she had last night. She thought that Byakuya had kissed her, but she knew that was impossible. He would never do something like that. _But it just felt so real...Stop it Rukia! Are you now having delusions as well?_

When Rukia arrived, she noticed how mostly everyone seemed pretty chipper, considering that they had just been attacked the day before.

"Hello Rukia~ glad you could make it. Now where's Kuchiki-taicho?" Urahara said as Rukia came inside. Everyone else was already there, but Rukia noticed Orihime was not present.

"He should be here shortly. Where's Orihime?" Rukia asked.

"She left me a note saying she needed some time to herself, and that she's really sorry for letting us down but in order to get stronger she has to do so by herself." Ichigo said, handing her a folded piece of paper.

Rukia took the paper and read the letter:

 _Kurosaki-kun and all my friends_ ,

 _I'm sorry for doing this to you guys now when you might really need me, but the truth is I'm not strong enough. I need to get away for a while from all of this so I'm going to countryside for a few days to train by myself. Please don't worry about me, I will be back very soon and please take care of yourselves. I'm sorry that I'm so weak and can't do much to help, but I think I can work on increasing my strength like you all are. This time, when you need me I will be there to protect you instead of it being the other way around. Please respect my wishes and don't come after me, I will come to you guys when I am ready. I am so sorry once again and I hope you understand._

 _Love,_

 _Your friend Orihime_

"Are we sure she's going to be okay?" Rukia asked, handing the note back to Ichigo.

"Honestly, Rukia, anywhere but here would probably be much safer for her," Ichigo responded.

"Heh, seems to me like she's running away because she's scared," Ikkaku said.

Lieutenant Yachiru then said, "That's not nice, Cue-ball," to which Ikkaku instantly shut up, clearly annoyed by the name but not enough to say something about it to his superior in the squad.

Byakuya then walked in, causing Rukia's heartbeat to slightly elevate. _Damn it, just stop! Keep it together, Rukia!_ He then sat down across from her, avoiding eye contact with anyone as usual.

"Well look who finally decided to grace us with his presence today," said Ichigo, "Byakuya, you still fucking owe me for breaking through my damn window!"

To this, Byakuya just responded with, "Hmm." He then glanced over at Rukia for a moment too long, causing Rukia to notice. Almost instinctively, her fingers went up to touch her lips; Byakuya seemed to have noticed this and instantly looked away. His cheeks were slightly more pink than usual. _Wait, is he...blushing?_

"It would be nice if there were some tea here," Byakuya said, literally looking anywhere else besides in Rukia's direction. He then lightly started to tap on the table in front of him, to which Rukia gave him a puzzled look. He looked...uncomfortable.

As if on cue, Tessai brought over some tea and cookies. To Yachiru's surprise, he also gave her a lollipop to which she gladly accepted saying, "Thanks, braidy-head!"

Byakuya snatched the tea like it was some shot glass, and sipped too quickly which must've burned his tongue because he put the cup down and put his hand to his mouth.

"Nii-sama! Are you okay?" Rukia asked, clearly worried with his erratic behavior.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said, avoiding eye contact with Rukia.

Literally everyone was surprised that the usually calm, composed captain of Squad 6 was being all nervous and jittery all of a sudden.

Ichigo commented, "The fuck is up with you today, Byakuya?"

"Ichigo, just shut up and show some respect for once would you?" Rukia said.

Byakuya then finally looked at Rukia, looked her up and down, and it seemed to Rukia like he was...checking her out. He then looked away again as if he were embarrassed and ashamed. _What the fuck? Why would he look at me at like that? You're imagining things again Rukia._

"Can somebody explain to me why the hell we're here talking like sissies instead of out there fighting like we should be?" said Kenpachi, clearly bored at all the talks and itching for a fight as usual.

"Alright everyone, I called you here today to tell you that we're making progress on uncovering safe passage into 'Hueco Mundo'- where these Arrancars seem to be coming in and out from," said Urahara.

"It's about time, I've been waiting for another good fight," said Ikkaku.

"-But we are still working on it and we're not sure exactly how long this will take. So everyone gets a break while we figure that out! So go enjoy yourselves everyone."

"Oh my god! So I have more time to shop?!" Rangiku exclaimed.

"Matsumoto! How can you be thinking about shopping right now?!" said Captain Hitsugaya.

"But Taicho, I really need some new clothes! I don't have any of the latest trending clothes yet!"

Hitsugaya sighed, accepting defeat that his lieutenant would never change.

"Ruki-ruki, why don't you and Ren-chan go on a date, huh? Hehehe," said Yachiru, clearly in a good mood because of the candy given to her.

"Uhh…" stammered Rukia.

"I don't think now is the time to be thinking about dating," said Byakuya in his usual monotone voice, but Rukia thought she sensed just a twinge of annoyance from it.

"Now, now what did I just say? Go enjoy yourselves! There's really nothing else you can do now, until I figure this out," said Urahara.

Renji now awkwardly said, "So...Rukia, let's go on a date tonight? There's a fancy restaurant near that hotel you're staying at."

"Oh I uh.. I don't kn-"

"She would love to! Rukia oh my god you're coming with me girl, I'm going to get you ready for your first date~~Let's go shopping right now!" Rangiku said excitedly.

"Rangiku-san!" said Rukia, blushing, "alright, alright."

Renji then said, "Good, I'll meet you there at 8 tonight." He then got up to leave, but looked over at Byakuya for a moment, who was looking back at him, and it appeared as if a silent conversation took place between them.

Rangiku was heading over to Rukia, when Ichigo suddenly interrupted, "Rukia, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Rangiku-san, go ahead without me. I'll meet you at your hotel room soon," said Rukia.

"You got it Rukia!" said Rangiku as she headed off. Hitsugaya and Byakuya also headed out as well, but the rest of them stayed behind and ate the cookies that were on the table, while they talked about how they would take out the Arrancars.

Rukia headed to the back porch to talk with Ichigo.

"What is it, Ichigo?"

"Rukia, are you sure about all this?" Ichigo said, nervously scratching his hair.

"Huh?"

"I mean getting engaged to Renji..dating him and all, etc."

Rukia shrugged. "It's fine, why?"

"Like are you sure this is what you want to be doing? Or are you doing because you feel like you have to?"

Rukia sighed. "Ichigo, yes it was decided by the elders but I am fine with it. Renji's a little rough around the edges but he does care about me, so it's fine by me."

"So you're doing this because you want to marry Renji?"

Rukia took a deep breath. "No it's not like that. I have a duty to uphold as part of the Kuchiki clan. I'm just saying this is okay. It's what I have to do."

"Rukia you know you don't have to listen to them, you have your own life. You should get to decide what you want to do."

Rukia laughed, clearly surprising Ichigo. "Look, Ichigo, I don't expect you to understand, but I am bound to my duties. It's expected of me to go through with it, and I don't really see a reason to reject it."

"...Alright, Rukia if you're sure. I just want you to be making choices that you will be happy with I guess."

"Thanks, Ichigo but I'm fine with this. Truly."

But Rukia knew that was a total lie.

~Byakuya~

Byakuya was absolutely mortified with himself because of the behavior he was exhibiting earlier in the shop. He was 90% sure that everyone noticed something was up, especially Rukia because of the confused and worried look she had given him multiple times. He kept thinking back to his dream last night whenever he looked at her, so he literally tried to look at anything else besides her in the room. But when she told Ichigo to shut up for him, he just couldn't resist. He stole a glance at her. He looked at her entire body; she was a tiny little thing, but she certainly had some curves beneath what she was wearing no doubt. _God damn it, stop stop stop looking at her! Stop thinking about her in this way, you cannot be doing this right now! ...Oh no has she noticed?_

Byakuya was really annoyed with himself, but his annoyance with his lieutenant later on went way beyond that. He was asking her out on a date, and right in front of him to boot. _I've clearly been going way too easy on him…_

And then the Squad 10 lieutenant had offered to get Rukia ready. _What is this? How can everyone be thinking about silly stuff when there's beasts out there that we need to fight?_

And then Renji had given him that look before leaving. A look to say that Byakuya had better back off from Rukia. Byakuya wanted to knock his lieutenant's teeth out until he had none left.

Now even Ichigo wanted to have a talk with her. _Holy shit, just how many men has she trapped... with those beautiful hopeful eyes, small and slender but womanly figure, and those ravishing lips...NO! This is no way to be thinking about your sister!_

Byakuya had had enough. He could feel himself literally losing his sanity in Rukia's presence so left as quickly as he could. He needed to get himself under control before he did something stupid and rash that would completely destroy his family's honor.

Byakuya saw an art supply store on the way back to the hotel and decided to stop by. He decided he might as well do some painting or drawing to kill some time. _While Rukia is going out on a date with Renji…_ He snapped out of it and went down the aisles grabbing some paintbrushes, pens, and a paint palette as well as sketch paper and a canvas. All the while, he noticed how the young girl behind the counter was staring at him. _Do I look strange? But this is how most of the people here seem to dress…_

He walked up to her and asked, "How much for all of this?"

The girl was clearly sick or something because she turned as red as a tomato and responded, "For you, it's free."

"I am not poor if that's what you are thinking."

"Oh no no, sir, that's not what I meant at all. I just meant you should take it for free as a gift from me- er this shop."

"You don't want any payment?"

"No...well actually, it would be nice if you could take a picture with me."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean with all the stuff you're holding, it would bring in more customers maybe. Would you do this for me?"

"Alright."

At this the girl took out her phone and ran over to his side. She was smiling widely, but Byakuya had his usual cold look as she took the picture.

"Thank you, thank you so much sir!" the girl said.

"It's nothing. It's just my payment for these items."

Byakuya went back to his hotel room, prepared to tune out any forbidden thoughts about Rukia while he sketched. However, things didn't go exactly as planned. He was originally planning on drawing a night landscape, with the moon and dark sky, but half an hour into drawing, he noticed he had started drawing a woman underneath the night sky. The woman had big violet eyes, a small nose, rosy cheeks, small but sweet lips, and short medium hair with some strands between her eyes. This woman looked a lot like his sister Rukia. Byakuya was now very angry with himself- the point of this exercise was to distract himself so he wouldn't think about her, but here he was literally _drawing_ her. He took the sketch and flipped it around placing it on top of the drawer near his bed, deciding that he'd discard it later when no one would notice.

~Rukia~

After about nearly three hours of shopping with Rangiku, Rukia was completely worn out. Rangiku had literally gotten 10 bags full of clothes, which seemed ridiculous to Rukia considering that the only place she'd even get to wear them was here in the World of the Living. And of course literally all of them showed off her ample bosom.

She also made Rukia try on about twenty different dresses before deciding that this one black strapless one with a white bow around the waist was the perfect dress for her date. She also bought several other dresses for her though Rukia had insisted that wasn't necessary. The date dress had a built-in padded bra, giving a more full look to Rukia's chest.

"Rukia, you look so damn beautiful! Renji will be filled up with dirty thoughts when he sees you looking like this! HAHA," said Rangiku.

"Rangiku-san!" Rukia blushed. _If only a certain someone else could have some dirty thoughts… Rukia you need to stop thinking about something that will never happen!_

~~  
After getting back to the hotel, Rukia glanced over at her Nii-sama's room for a second, which Rangiku must have noticed for she asked, "Rukia honey you're going on a date with Renji. Come on, just enjoy yourself for tonight, okay?"

"Y-yeah, of course."

After about an hour and half, Rangiku finally declared that Rukia was all ready to go. Rangiku had not allowed Rukia to look anywhere near the mirror while she was getting her ready, as she wanted it to be a surprise. She made Rukia sit on a chair near the bed, while she ran back and forth getting her makeup supplies.

"Ta-dah! Finally done. Look at yourself now Rukia! So beautiful!" Rangiku said.

Rukia walked over to the mirror.

For a second, she could not recognize herself. She had eyeshadow on, and perfect winged eyeliner. She had dark red lipstick which gave her the sexy look and completely went along with her dress. Most of her hair was pinned up, giving her a look of simple elegance. She also had on a small pearl necklace. And Rangiku's highlighting skills were right on point.

"You'll be the girl that every man turns their head to look at Rukia, oh you beautiful thing!" Rangiku said, clearly holding back from hugging though because she did not want to mess up any of Rukia's makeup. "Aaaand here are your heels!" she said while bringing out some killer black strapped stilettos.

"Oh, wow, thanks so much Rangiku-san. You're really amazing at this. I don't know if I can walk in those though," Rukia laughed nervously.

"Nonsense~ you can handle it! Here, try them on."

Rukia put the stilettos on and walked around for a bit, trying not to trip. It was definitely hard at first but after about an hour of trying, Rukia felt fairly certain she could make it through the day without tripping if she just walked slowly.

"You're finally ready! Have fun dear!" Rangiku said, slightly tearing up.

"Rangiku-san, what the hell!?"

"You're just so beautiful honey, you could make any man yours tonight! Good luck with Renji," she said while winking.

Rukia was relieved she made it to the fancy restaurant in one piece without tripping anywhere.

She gave her name and Renji's and one of the staff led her to the table with Renji. Rukia was expecting Renji to be dressed up nicely, but it still came as a shock to her that he cleaned up well and looked pretty good in a suit. Renji was literally gawking at her when he saw her.

"Wow-I- WOW. Rukia you look really nice today." Renji said.

"Thanks, Renji. You too."

"Sooo...our first real date haha."

"Yup." Rukia had never felt so much awkwardness in her life.

Renji started blabbing on about his training and other things which Rukia had literally zero interest in hearing about unfortunately. She totally tuned out and just nodded her head and laughed here and there, but the whole time she was thinking about Byakuya. She looked at Renji while he talked, but in reality she was looking right through him. She imagined someone else in his place.

Byakuya was there now in front of her, and Rukia was absolutely mesmerized. She could not stop staring at him. He was reading some paper, while sipping on his tea occasionally. Those beautiful grey eyes looking so intently at that paper made Rukia wish she were that paper in that moment. _God how can one man be so beautiful…_

To anyone on the outside, it must've appeared as if Rukia was completely infatuated with the boy in front of her. Until he had to call her name 10 times for her to snap out of it and finally respond.

"Rukia- shinigami to Rukia- are you there?" Renji said waving his hands around.

"What?" asked Rukia, finally back to reality.

"I asked you why you weren't eating your food. Do you not like it?"

 _Oh shit…_ Rukia hadn't even noticed the food was there, she didn't even remember ordering anything in the first place. _I must've just said yes to everything...damn it. Yup I got the same thing as Renji._ It was some giant lobster, which Renji apparently thought would be great but Rukia did not want to eat that thing that looked like a giant red cockroach.

"Look I'm really sorry Renji...but I have to go."

"What? Why? What's wrong?" Renji said, clearly surprised because it seemed like things were going well earlier.

"I just- it's just too much too soon, Renji. I'm really sorry, but I just can't right now."

Rukia got up and took off the stilettos, holding onto them as she ran out of the restaurant and towards the man who was always on her mind.

~Byakuya~

He knew she was coming before she even reached the door. He could just sense her presence. He heard her knock several times. _Oh no should I just hide, pretend I'm not here?_ Then he realized how ridiculous he was being. _This is crazy! Be a man, Byakuya, come on. Just act normal._

He opened the door and man was he blown away by the sight of her. She had slightly heavy makeup on but it looked nice on her, and she was wearing a black strapless dress, that made her small chest look bigger than usual. She had very uncomfortable-looking shoes on, but they complimented her dress nicely and made her taller. Her hair was pinned up and she looked absolutely stunning. He also could not stop staring at her perfect red lips. So she had dressed up this nicely for the date with Abarai. _Snap out of it. They're to be married, it's perfectly normal for her to dress up like this for him._

"What are you doing here?" he asked Rukia as calmly as possible.

"I-I...I just need to know something." Rukia said with a new look of determination.

"What is it?"

"Can I come in?"

"..."

"I'll be quick." He stood to the side to let her in.

"Close the door," she said.

"For what reason Rukia?" Byakuya's heartbeat was starting to increase as his thoughts started heading down a forbidden path once more. But he did shut the door.

"Do you only see her whenever you look at me?" she said with a slight look of desperation.

Byakuya wasn't really sure what kind of answer to give her, hell he wasn't expecting a question like this. After a moment, he finally decided to respond, "No. I never said that."

"But you did. That one time…"

"Rukia, what are you even doing here? Are you not supposed to be on your "date" right now? You shouldn't be here right now, especially...looking like that. What would people think if they saw?" And as soon as he said this, he regretted it.

"Well I-I left. Because I felt like I had to see you. But never mind I realize now I'm just bothering you. I'm sorry, I'll leave right away...Nii-sama." She started heading towards the door.

"Wait… I did not mean it like that." He walked towards her. _Damn it Byakuya what are you doing!?_

At this, she turned back around, and was starting to walk towards him when she lost her footing because of those weird fancy shoes she was wearing. Byakuya caught her before she could fall to the floor, and she landed right into his arms and on his chest. It would appear to anyone from the outside as if they were embracing each other, and for a moment he just couldn't let her go.

"Uhh...thanks for catching me. I guess I'm just not used to walking around in these," she said as looked up at him and her face turned a beautiful shade of scarlet. He wanted more than anything else to kiss her in this moment, take her to his bed and make love to her in such a way that would be so unforgettable that she'd end up coming back to him to beg for more. _Stop these impure thoughts immediately Byakuya._

"You look lovely, Rukia," he blurted before he could even think to stop himself. _You idiot! Are you really going to encourage her right now?_

"Oh-I, thank you…" she said, clearly feeling a bit shy as she looked down.

He then let her go, realizing it was weird of him to keep holding onto her like that for so long.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Rukia said looking at his shirt.

He happened to be wearing white that day and apparently her lipstick had left behind a smudge when she landed into his chest just moments before. Byakuya now felt even more awkward than before.

"Hm. It is not a big deal," was all he said.

"I guess I should go now…" she said, almost reluctantly.

"What brought you here in the first place? Did you need to speak with me about something important?"

"I...No I guess not. It's nothing," she said, her face crestfallen.

"I see," said Byakuya, not pushing it further.

"Do you like me, Byakuya-sama?" said Rukia, looking down.

This totally caught him by surprise. She never called him like that before...but he kind of liked it. Though he would rather just have her call him by his first name only. He was actually kind of jealous that she called the Kurosaki kid and his lieutenant Abarai by first names, but they were friends so it was to be expected. And then there was the matter of the actual question itself.

"Of course. You are family."

"No, um, I meant...like maybe in a different way..." she made a weird face, as this was clearly difficult for her to say.

Byakuya had to stop this before she got the wrong idea.

"Rukia, I am your brother. I'm not sure what it is you are expecting me to say to you."

"Okay, I understand completely now. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable, Nii-sama. I guess I'm the only one being a fool right now haha," she forced a laugh.

"You are not the only one," he responded without thinking.

"Huh? What does that mean?" This definitely caught her by surprise.

"Never mind, it does not matter." He then noticed that she was looking at the bedside table, that had his drawing from earlier on top of it. _SHIT._ She started walking towards it and was about to flip it over, when Byakuya ran over and slammed his hand down on the paper before she could see it. This slightly frightened and surprised her, clearly. _That was close._

"Rukia, you may take your leave now."

"I...Okay. Good night," she said, probably wondering what she did wrong. _It's not you Rukia, it's me._

"Good night," was all he said back.

 _How foolish am I? 'You are not the only one'? You might as well announce to her what kind of dreams you've been having about her lately you idiot. And get rid of that drawing before someone sees it!_

~Rukia~

Rukia was now completely confused. _What did he mean "you're not the only one"? And why was he trying to keep me from seeing that paper?_

She headed over to Rangiku's room, once again feeling like crap. _Snap out of it Rukia you know he could never like you like that. You're just an unwanted reminder of his once beautiful past._

She knocked on the door to Rangiku's room. Rangiku opened the door two seconds later.

"Rukia! Why are you back so early?"

"I...I left."

"What? Why?"

"I just couldn't do it, Rangiku-san." Rukia said, now covering her face with her hands, trying to hold back tears.

"Aww oh dear, come here," she said, coming up to hug Rukia.

"I'll be okay." Rukia said, trying her best to appear strong.

"Rukia…" Rangiku gave her a look of pity.

Suddenly their phones went off, signaling the appearance of a Hollow nearby. _Perfect._ This is exactly what Rukia needed to keep her mind off things.

"It's just a regular Hollow, Rangiku-san. I've got this." Rukia said.

"But I could come help-"

"No, please. I just need this right now."

"Alright then Rukia, stay safe."

"I will, don't worry."

Rukia shifted out of her gigai. She jumped out the window, now in shinigami form.

Rukia took care of the small Hollow within two minutes. However, once sheathing her zanpakuto, she felt the air around her change, as if an alternate dimension had just opened. She felt a tremendous pressure of reiatsu.

"Who's there?" she yelled, taking out her zanpakuto once more.

"The name is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, and don't you forget it," said the Arrancar smiling as he came out into the open. He had light-bluish hair, blue eyes, and half of the side of his mouth was covered by the teeth of a Hollow mask, showing his origins. He was the same one that nearly killed her days earlier.

Not wasting a second, Rukia yelled out, "Mae, Sode no Shirayuki-" but Grimmjow threw something at her which latched onto her. It was some sort of rope that twisted itself around her arms, completely paralyzing her. _Shit, I can't move at all!_

"Uh-uh-uh, shouldn't have done that," he said in a mocking tone.

"What the hell do you want?" Rukia demanded.

"I need you to come with me," he said grinning, "and don't worry, I won't kill you, because you're needed alive- at least for now."

He flashed over to her and picked her up. _Shit shit shit!_

Rukia Kuchiki knew she was utterly fucked, once again.

~That's it for this chapter folks! Hope you enjoyed it! And don't hate me too much lol, there will be sweet moments between our OTP soon enough so bear with me! Please review guys- once again both praise and constructive criticism are accepted, I just love when I check my account and see that more reviews have been added, I just love hearing your thoughts after reading the chapter :). I will try to update soon, and I've got soo many good things planned guys haha I'm so excited, and maybe I'll update sooner if I see your reviews to motivate me to start writing the next chapter right away ;) so don't forget to leave a review!Thanks again guys! -Much love from cggirl3


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, I had a few midterms this week. Anyways thanks reviewers! Though I've noticed people haven't been reviewing as much lately T_T. Thanks though Dreaming Haven and bluetonic4390! To Dreaming Haven: always nice to read your thoughts on my chapters, totally love long reviews LOL and I completely agree with you :) Sooo guys I'm switching things up a bit, but I hope you enjoy it. This is mainly a comedic chapter, so it might seem a bit filler but there are a couple important details here that will play a role in future chapters so :) Anyways I hope you enjoy the chapter and please leave a review! It means a lot to me :) (I know I say it every chapter, sorry for the redundancy, but I just love reading them!)

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, not me.

Chapter 11- Game Night

"Where are you taking me?!" Rukia demanded.

"You'll see soon enough. Don't worry we have a friend there waiting for you, hehe. I'm surprised nobody's noticed yet honestly."

Grimmjow opened up a tear in space, preparing to leave to Hueco Mundo with Rukia on his back, when suddenly she heard a voice from behind them say, "Just where the fuck do you think you're taking her?"

It was Ichigo in his bankai form. "Ichigo…" said Rukia.

"Rukia do I seriously have to save your ass AGAIN?"

"Shut up Ichigo! It's not like I was expecting this to happen!" Rukia said, annoyed.

"Grimmjow you better put her down right now," Ichigo said, his sword facing Grimmjow.

"Oh? Or what?" Grimmjow said, clearly amused.

"I will cut you down and take her by force."

"I'd like to see you try!"

"You…"

Suddenly Byakuya appeared out of thin air, getting ready to attack.

"Hey I had this under control!" yelled Ichigo.

"Get out of my way or I cannot guarantee your safety," Byakuya said, coolly.

Then Grimmjow held out his hand, a light forming. _Shit it's a cero!_

"Nii-sama! Ichigo!" she yelled out.

Ichigo was blasted into the side of a building, and ended up under a ton of rubble.

A moment later, another tear in space opened up and a man with green markings under his eyes showed up. _Ulquiorra?_

Ulquiorra then punched Grimmjow's jaw so hard that he dropped Rukia, and she landed on a rooftop. Clearly, Grimmjow was surprised by this.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Ulquiorra!?" said Grimmjow.

"What do you think YOU are doing? Aizen-sama has not ordered you to do this. Would you like to lose your arm again Grimmjow? This time I will ensure that the foolish girl doesn't heal you."

"You…"

Ulquiorra then grabbed Grimmjow by the collar, throwing him through the dimension gate. Byakuya then flashed over to Ulquiorra, ready to slice him to bits when Ulquiorra put his finger up, pointing towards Rukia.

"Decide whether you want to kill me or save her," he said, the cero forming about to blast Rukia away.

Byakuya immediately flashed over to Rukia, carrying her and out of the way of the cero, as Ulquiorra slipped away into the other dimension.

"Nii-sama! Are you alright?" asked Rukia.

"Rukia, what are you even doing out here by yourself? Were you not supposed to be with Lieutenant Matsumoto?" Byakuya asked, clearly angry though his tone of voice had not changed.

"Yes, but…"

Byakuya tried to take the ropes off Rukia, but they just wouldn't come off. He then tried to cut it with his sword, but that didn't work either. He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what kind of contraption this was exactly.

"Can you move, Rukia?" he asked.

"No, I can't Nii-sama. I don't know what this is, but I can't feel my arms or legs at all."

He then effortlessly picked up Rukia, bridal-style, causing Rukia to blush.

Ichigo finally got out of the rubble, panting, and was bleeding profusely.

"Ichigo!" Rukia called out, feeling kind of awkward that he was going to see her in her Nii-sama's arms like this. Byakuya didn't seem to care at all.

"Damn it! They got away?" He was furious. He then noticed how Byakuya was holding Rukia. He blinked a few times, as if a bit confused.

"Rukia, are you okay?"

"I...I'm kind of paralyzed for the moment."

"I'm sure Urahara will have something to help."

"Hmm.." Byakuya said, flashing away suddenly, catching Rukia by surprise.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ichigo called out behind them.

"Hmm...it seems to me like some sort of condensed and portable version of something similar to sekkiseki," said Kisuke Urahara, examining the ropes binding Rukia's hands.

"So does this mean I'm just going to be stuck like this?" Rukia asked, started to panic a little. It did not feel good to not be able to move your legs or arms at all.

"No, no, don't worry I'll take care of this. Can someone call over Uryu Ishida?"

Ichigo took out his phone and texted. "Alright he'll be here in five minutes. Damn it Rukia, seriously you are a magnet for trouble. I keep my eyes off you for five seconds and someone's about to abduct you."

"Shut up Ichigo!"

"He's actually right you know," said Renji, opening the door from the other room. Apparently he had been cleaning, because he had a broom in his hand. _Urahara must've made him clean up to pay for letting him stay here._ Rukia wanted to laugh at the sight, but her feelings of anxiety over her current state hadn't disappeared yet.

"Well I wasn't expecting that to happen."

"What were you even doing there? Weren't you supposed to be with Matsumoto?"

Byakuya was now looking at her, also waiting for a response.

"Look, guys, it was just a small Hollow my tracker picked up, I told Rangiku I could handle it. And I did. But Grimmjow literally appeared out of thin air."

"Question is, why was he planning to take you with him, instead of just killing you right there?" Urahara asked, rubbing his chin.

"I have no idea." Rukia said.

"I don't think you should be hanging around alone Rukia. I think they're targeting you for some reason," said Ichigo.

"Yeah way to state the obvious ," said Renji.

Uryu finally showed up, and Urahara filled him in with all the details quickly.

"Rukia, you should be more careful," said Uryu.

"I will, I will," said Rukia sick of hearing it for like the hundredth time.

"Ishida, I'm going to need one of your arrows," said Urahara.

"What for?" asked Uryu, confused.

"I believe the properties in your arrows could help me get rid of the ropes binding Rukia."

"How would that work?"

"Stop asking questions, boy, and do as you're told,"Byakuya said in an icy tone. Rukia gulped.

"Okay, then. For Rukia." Uryu said, clearly a bit frightened but doing his best to hide it.

Urahara took the arrow that Uryu produced, dipping it in some weird liquid and then slashed off the ropes on Rukia. _Damn that was fast._

"What is that, Urahara-san?" asked Rukia, curious.

"I simply took the properties of the Quincy arrow, dipped it in shinigami blood mixed with various poisons and ta-dah."

"Poisons?" asked Uryu, suddenly fascinated about the mechanisms behind it.

"Shinigami blood?! Whose blood?" Ichigo said.

"Now, now those details don't matter," Urahara said, waving it off. "Ishida, I will need more of your arrows to create something so if you would please join me in that room to help out?"

"Uh, sure. But only if you tell me exactly how this works," said Uryu, his nerdy side coming out.

They left the room. Rukia was finally able to move again, and it felt so great.

"I'm not sure if you should stay with Rangiku-san," said Renji.

"Renji, it's not her fault, I told her specifically not to follow me."

"I agree with Abarai," said Byakuya.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, so why don't you just stay here? With me," said Renji.

"I don't think that's necessary."

"He's right Rukia. Stay here." Byakuya responded.

"Well...okay then I guess."

"Please try not to get kidnapped again, Rukia. It's getting kind of exhausting having to save you every time," Ichigo said.

"Oh shut up!" said Rukia, as she threw a book at him, which whacked him over the head.

"Oww! You damn shortie psycho!"

"Who you calling short!? I can kick your ass any day, Ichigo, and you know it!"

"Guys, seriously?" said Renji. Byakuya also cleared his throat, clearly not enjoying the bickering.

Ichigo and Rukia stopped their squabbling and all the other members of Soul Society showed up minutes later.

"Rukia!" Rangiku-san came running to Rukia, squishing her with her typical hug.

"Rangiku-san..can't breathe…" Rukia said.

"Oh sorry!~ Girl I was so worried about you! Ichigo texted us so we all came right away! Are you okay? This is why I didn't want to let you go alone!"

"Yes, you shouldn't have let her go alone," said Renji.

"I know, I know. I feel terrible! You don't have to rub it in, Renji."

"It's not your fault, they just came out of nowhere. That other small Hollow was nothing for me." Rukia said.

"I was just so worried about you dear."

"I know, I'm sorry," said Rukia.

~~  
"Alright everyone, so that's what's happening," said Urahara. He had just explained the incident with Rukia and the mechanisms behind his new creation which he called "Anti-Trapper". It was basically a bracelet with an arrow tip laced with whatever he had given Rukia earlier. He made one for everyone and passed them out.

"Now, this should shield you against whatever they're using to paralyze you, so make sure you don't lose it!" said Urahara.

"Alright~~I'm guessing we can finally start fighting now?" Ikkaku said, cracking his knuckles.

"I'm ready to fight as well," said Yumichika, running his hands through his hair.

"Umm-well we are still working on the portal for safe travel so you'll not be going tonight," said Urahara, laughing awkwardly.

"Seriously?! How long is it going to take you?!" said Ikkaku, clearly annoyed.

"Let me show you something," said Urahara. Taking out a weird seal from a drawer, he then led everyone to the training grounds beneath his shop.

He then twisted the seal and held it up in the air, letting it go. The seal then activated, and it opened up what looked like the path to Hueco Mundo. He then asked Ururu to bring the toy, to which the young girl quickly brought him some plushie teddy bear. Urahara threw the plushie into the portal and it burned into flames instantly, until there was nothing left.

"See that everyone? It's not safe," said Yoruichi.

"Heh, that is nothing I can't handle," said Kenpachi.

"It won't kill souls at your level no, but do you think you will be at your strongest when you do get to Aizen's place? Strong enough both to defeat the Arrancars and Aizen himself? I don't think so," Yoruichi said.

"You talk too much, woman," Kenpachi said, but backing down because he knew she was right.

"All we're saying is give us just two more days and we will come up with something that ensures your powers will not be inhibited once you enter there," said Urahara. "Now come on, let's go back up."

Everyone grumbled but went back upstairs.

"Luckily, I brought some drinks with me guys!" said Rangiku bringing out a plastic bag with all sorts of liquor.

"Well, better than doing nothing I guess," said Ikkaku, grabbing a bottle.

~~  
"Alright, let's play now everyone!" said Rangiku. She had just explained the rules of "Never have I ever" to the entire group. Oddly enough, everyone seemed pretty excited to play. Probably because it involved drinking. Byakuya however, refused to participate in this silliness and just sat off to the side, reading some random manga about "shinigami" that was in the shop. This was a very amusing sight to Rukia, but she decided to play the games with everyone else. Rukia was afraid to drink after the last incident that occurred in her drunken state, but Rangiku and the others begged her to join them, and she finally gave in to the peer pressure. _Oh fuck it, why not?_

"Rukia, you probably shouldn't drink," said Byakuya.

"Uhh…" Rukia blushed.

"Kuchiki-taicho! Come on, we're just having some fun. We're all friends here, so it's all good. Why don't you join us too?"

"No thank you," he said, going back to reading his book.

"Okay, I'm starting! Never have I ever...had more than ten drinks at once!" said Rangiku.

No one drank except for Yoruichi.

"Damnnn sista!" yelled out Rangiku, and then having a shot herself, blatantly ignoring the game's rules. Typical of her.

"Never have I ever...looked truly ugly," said Yumichika, causing everyone to give him an "are you serious" look.

"I think all we ladies can drink to that for sure!" Rangiku said, winking. Almost everyone did, including Rukia.

Seeing as how Renji was about to have a drink, Yumichika quickly said, "I don't think you've understood the rules properly, Lieutenant Abarai. Only people that are beautiful can drink."

"Are you calling me ugly!? Watch it, pretty boy, or I'll make you look real ugly right now," said Renji, cracking his knuckles.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that."

"Shut up right now! It's my turn," said Kenpachi in such a way that made both of them not say another word.

"Never have I ever...gouged out someone's eyeballs and crushed their skull with just my bare hands...though I hope to someday hehe," said Kenpachi. Everyone looked at him like wide-eyed in shock and nobody drank to that.

Ichigo then said, "What the fuck? Wasn't that in Game of Thrones or something?"

"Yes, I've been watching it on what they call the "TV" in my room. The fights are absolutely amazing, I'd like to fight the Mountain man myself at least once in my life," Kenpachi said, grinning.

"You know that's all fake, right?!" Ichigo said.

"Can't fake strength like that," Kenpachi said. Ichigo gave up trying to explain.

They played a few rounds and pretty much everyone was slightly drunk at this point, and it was Rangiku's turn once again.

"Never have I ever...kissed a man I truly loved," she said.

Rukia drank to that and clearly she was not in her right mind, because she knew Byakuya was watching the game at this point.

"Oooo Rukia who was it?" Yoruichi asked playfully.

"It'sh a shecret…" said Rukia, the liquor clearly getting to her. She knew people were probably staring at her but didn't really care.

"Yoruichi-san, you shouldn't be asking people those kinds of things," said Urahara, taking out his fan.

"HA," she said taking another drink, "Never have I ever...had a sex dream where I was the submissive one."

Rukia drank to that, catching a lot of people by surprise, but when asked she would just laugh and say that "it wash a shecret".

~Byakuya~

The next game was Truth or Dare. Half the people there were already pretty much passed out. Matsumoto was clearly out of her mind, because when Rukia picked Dare, she asked her to do something completely ridiculous in front of everyone.

"I dare you to kiss Kuchiki-taicho! On the lips!"

"This is madness, do not get me involved in this," said Byakuya. _Is she crazy!?_

"You have to do it Rukia! You picked Dare!" yelled out Rangiku.

"I don't know... if I...if I should do that.." said Rukia, clearly feeling lost and confused.

"Oh come on! It's just a damn kiss!" said Yoruichi. She flashed over so quickly to Byakuya, that not even he had any idea of what was about to take place.

"See? Muuuahhh," said Yoruichi as she leaned forward and kissed him full on the lips. Everyone was now looking at them in utter shock and Byakuya was so completely mortified that he pushed her away immediately and without thinking yelled out, "You crazy cat monster just what do you think you're doing?!"

Yoruichi backed away, laughing uncontrollably while Byakuya was fuming. He then realized that everybody was staring at him, because they'd never seen him lose his temper like that and he cleared his throat before saying, "Try something like that again, Yoruichi Shihoin, and I will make sure you regret it." _Damn it I let her get to me!_

"Yoruichi-san, I think it's bed time for you now," said Urahara starting to drag her away when suddenly Rukia, with a newfound confidence, said, "Don't you...you dare... do that again, Byakuyash mine and only mine!" and she started crawling towards Byakuya, settling herself in his lap as everyone was shocked once more, including Byakuya himself. The Kurosaki kid was completely confused at first but must've hit some sort of realization, because he now just had his typical look of arrogance. Abarai on the other hand looked absolutely furious, but he did not do anything. Yet.

"Rukia, what are you doing?" Byakuya calmly asked her.

"I want to stay right here with you," and then turning around to everyone else, "nobody but me! Me... gets to even touch my Byakuya-shama, undershtand?"

She was starting to slur her words and behave the way she was that day with the elders. _She is clearly drunk. Rukia, damn it stop this will look weird to everyone!_

Byakuya didn't know what the fuck to do, because Rukia clinging onto him like this was not appropriate behavior but he couldn't exactly tell the girl to keep her distance; she was not in her right mind. So he was actually pretty grateful for what Matsumoto did next.

"It's just a kiss guys, not a big deal," she said grabbing Captain Hitsugaya's face and pulling it towards hers, "see this?"

She gave him just a peck on the lips, and her captain instantly became as red as a beet root.

"Matsumoto!" He yelled out, enraged. "Have you lost your mind!?" _The poor boy. I can actually relate to him this once._

"Hehehe~sorry Taicho," she said laughing it off.

Everyone now shifted their attention towards Matsumoto and Captain Hitsugaya, completely fascinated by the night's turn of events.

Rukia was still in his lap, her arms hugging around Byakuya's neck. _I should just take her with me._

He lifted her up effortlessly. _Such a tiny thing she is…_

He started walking towards the door to exit, when his lieutenant suddenly appeared in front of him, clearly angry at what had occurred.

"She should stay with me, Taicho," said Abarai, trying to take her from Byakuya's arms.

"NOOO…"Rukia yelled out, tightening her grip on Byakuya. "I wanna stay with my Byakuya-go away!"

Renji looked at her like she had just slapped him. Byakuya was pleased at this.

"It appears she'll be staying with me for tonight. Good night," Byakuya said, smiling, as he whisked Rukia away to hotel. _Serves him right, how dare he try to take her from me…_

~~  
He had left the window to his room open earlier, because he went out looking for Rukia as he sensed the dimension gate open again. And of course she had nearly been kidnapped. _But for what reason would they take her? I'm glad the orange-haired idiot was there...what if I hadn't been able to arrive before they took her away?_

He took her towards the bed and she started talking. "Byakuya?"

"Yes?"

"I love you," she said with her drunken smile. It made his heart skip a beat to hear those words from her.

"I know," he said.

"I love you shooo much. Love you the mossssht in the whole wide worllldd…," then starting to sound a bit sad, "but you don't love me…"

He put her down on the bed, tucking her in. Her hair was all over her face, so he moved some strands aside, and said, "Of course I love you too."

"Really?" her face totally lit up.

"Yes, really." He smiled. He just couldn't help it, she was just too damn adorable.

"Yay! You have a very beautiful smile, you know? So smile more, okay?"

He brought over a glass of water and made her drink. "Now get some rest, Rukia."

"Mm..okay. I will if you sleep next to me!" she said, spreading her arms out wide as if inviting him to hug her.

"Rukia, that's not appropriate." She started to frown. "Alright, fine. Just this once."

Putting the glass on top of the table, he climbed into bed with her, and she curled up on him as if he were some giant comfortable pillow. She fell asleep almost instantly, and Byakuya was now left alone with his thoughts.

 _She's so drunk...I'll have to reprimand her later for behavior this evening._ He then thought back to how she drank to kissing the man she loved...and to having a sex dream where she had been the submissive one. _Does she dream about me too?_ Byakuya felt his cheeks warm up, and shook his head, trying to stop the undoubtedly improper thoughts from penetrating his mind.

Rukia moved a bit, and nuzzled up against him.

 _Why do I feel so glad just because she's here with me? Because she said she loves me while drunk?_ Byakuya knew he shouldn't stay in bed with her like this, that he should get up now since she was already fast asleep. _I will get up soon...Just a moment longer I wish to stay like this_ , he thought to himself while shutting his eyes, feeling...happy, an emotion he had not felt in a very long time.

Omake:

Kenpachi had finally figured out how to work this TV thing, after asking the room service man to show him, multiple times. The guy didn't complain though, probably not wanting to anger somebody who straight up looked like some version of the Hulk.

"Ken-chan, what are we going to watch?" Yachiru said, nibbling on some chocolate.

"Hmm.. '#1 Trending: Game of Thrones'. Let's watch this." He hit play, and he heard knocking on the door so went to get it.

"Surprise! We're bored so we're going to join you guys! Haha," said Rangiku. Rangiku along with Rukia, Yumichika, Ikkaku, and even Toshiro and Byakuya showed up. Rangiku brought drinks and popcorn.

Everyone spread out in the room, Rukia and Rangiku together on the bed, Yumichika and Ikkaku together next to it, and Toshiro and Byakuya sitting separately at different corners of the room on chairs.

A fight was taking place and Kenpachi and Yachiru were cheering while everyone else just watched quietly. Five minutes later, there was a sex scene. Rukia and Byakuya looked at each other for a moment, blushing and both looking away immediately. Rangiku ran over to Hitsugaya, covering his eyes and saying, "You're too young for this Taicho! It's not for kids!"

"Matsumoto! I'm not a child!" He yelled, swatting away her hands, wanting to get a good look at the screen.

Everyone else just felt super awkward, and thankfully Yachiru left to get some more candy. Rangiku though was totally enjoying the scene.

"Oh damn he's hot, I'd definitely do him," she said, laughing.

Kenpachi must've felt super weird because he turned off the TV. "Alright party's over, get out everyone."

"Nooo...alright, party over in my room then! Rukia come on!"

Byakuya said, "I will not be joining you."

Rangiku shrugged. "Alright then. Rukia call Renji over!"

At this Byakuya freaked out, "Never mind I will come. My lieutenant can't because... he's busy...on an assignment."

Renji was cleaning at Urahara's shop.

"This is totally unfair! Why am I the only one who has to do chores around here?!" Renji yelled out, frustrated.

"How can anyone say that after stuffing themselves like a pig…" Ururu muttered as she walked by.

"Fuck my life," said Renji to himself, sweeping away the floors like Cinderella.

Alright that's it for this chapter guys! I know it was kind of weird, throwing in some comedy here, but what I love about Bleach is that it has amazing comedy bits and bonding moments despite being a pretty serious action show for the main part. I know this seemed like a pretty filler type chapter but I hope you enjoyed it, I just thought it would be nice to make it kind of funny because it's been pretty serious for the most part; I also love how Byakuya and Yoruichi used to interact back when they were younger, seems like something straight out of a rom-com except Yoruichi acts more like the guy XD. Anyways, the omake (extra) is kind of random and I was debating about whether or not to publish it along with this chapter, but then I was like ehh whatever, might as well. I don't know if I'm making it a thing for every chapter (most likely not) but maybe I'll throw in one here and there, if you guys would like that. So review and let me know! As always praise and constructive criticism both accepted! I will try to update soon and don't worry if you hated the feel of this chapter, things will be getting pretty serious after one or two chapters anyways, I just thought it would be good to give our pairing some time together, and have the whole group just have a good time before they go off to fight :) - Love from cggirl3


	12. Chapter 12

HI GUYS! Sorry for making you all wait so long for this update! Long story short: MIDTERMS, and MY LAPTOP kept running into issues. But I have a new laptop now (thank God, I can literally get nothing done without a laptop) so it's all good now. As always, thanks my reviewers/followers and just my readers in general, I saw that many of you kept checking for an update and here it is! Meenathequeen: AHHH new reviewer, always makes me happy XD. And yeah I totally understand that most people write a review once the story's over but I always love when I get a comment after updating :) It's an amazing feeling when I know people are looking forward to my story. bluetonic4390: YAS I LOVE GoT, one of the best shows ever dude :D. Dreaming Haven: always a pleasure to read your reviews, you always are able to pick out what I am intending and I LOVE that because I spend a lot of time thinking about how to make them act and all in the chapters. Anyways, review/follow and thanks guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo.

Chapter 12- Maybe You'll Miss Me

~Rukia~

Rukia awoke with a slight headache, and noticed the sound of someone breathing right next to her. She rubbed her eyes, and slapped herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, for it was a sleeping Byakuya that she saw right by her side. She stayed still for a minute just staring at him. _He looks so peaceful like this_. Rukia slowly got herself out of bed, and the memories of last night came crashing down on her. _OH NO. I humiliated myself once again in front of him, FUCK. I made him sleep next to me as a pillow! And said I love you… but he said he loved me too. But oh God I made a huge scene in front of everyone..._ Because she was jealous that Yoruichi had kissed him like that, though his reaction to it all made her a feel bit better. Cringing to herself while thinking back to her embarrassing episodes while drunk, Rukia was tiptoeing to exit the room without making a sound, but noticed the paper on the bedside table. _Why was he trying to keep me from seeing that? I mean what exactly could it be…?_ She slowly walked over and flipped it over and almost gasped out loud. It was a sketch of her. Or well, someone that looked an awful lot like her. _Is this her, Nii-sama?_ She quickly placed it back into its original position, and looked back at him.

"I'm sorry...It just makes it harder for you when I'm around, doesn't it?" Rukia whispered sadly. She turned back around and headed out the door quietly, heading to Rangiku's room.

"Rukia I had no idea how adorable you could be while drunk!" Rangiku said, eating some chips on the bed, while browsing on her phone.

Rukia, drying her hair, switched off the blowdryer for a second to respond. "Rangiku-san, I literally humiliated myself in front of everyone. They all probably think I'm weird now because...you know…"

"Nah don't even worry about it. That was covered up completely when I kissed my captain HAHA."

Rukia unplugged the blowdryer, finger-combing through her hair, as she turned around and said, "Wait- you did WHAT?"

"Yup I guess you didn't notice 'cause you were like half asleep in Byakuya's arms at that point but yeah. Everyone was distracted by what I did, and they were already really drunk so I doubt they remember much about you." She put the chip bag to her mouth, trying to gather the last of the crumbs in it, and got up to throw the empty bag in the trash. "Damn these are good. Ohhh but Rukia, seeing Kuchiki-taicho absolutely lose his cool when Yoruichi-san did that-HAHAHA- that was really something!"

"Yeah…haha. They must've been really close before." Rukia said, with a tinge of jealousy that Rangiku was able to pick up on.

"Well, even if they were, I don't think he ever saw her in that way judging by the horrified look on his face. He even pushed her away!" Rangiku said, laughing while thinking back to the event.

"Yeah that's true...Rangiku-san, I believe the only one my Nii-sama will ever love is my sister."

"Well, Rukia, things change. Nothing's ever set in stone. What I can tell you is that Kuchiki-taicho genuinely cares about you. This I know for sure."

"Yeah...I know," Rukia said with a half-smile that didn't completely reach her eyes.

"So what about you and Renji?"

"Me and Renji?" Rukia suddenly remembered how she refused to let go of her Nii-sama and told her fiance to go away.

"OH shit!" Rukia exclaimed.

"What, what is it?" Rangiku asked, surprised.

"He probably thinks it's weird that I decided to stay with Nii-sama instead, I literally was hanging on to him the entire time...oh god." Rukia cringed.

"Well, I really think you and Renji need to have a talk. As for Kuchiki-taicho… he didn't seem to mind carrying you around." Rangiku said wiggling her eyebrows.

Rukia sighed. "He's just trying to be a good brother that's all."

"Well if that's all it is he's a fool. How could he not love our adorable Rukia?" She said all pouty.

Rukia needed to clear her head from all this. "I think I'm going to go for a walk."

"I don't know if that's a good idea Rukia."

"Oh come on not you too!"

"What if they appear out of nowhere again?" Rangiku said worried.

"I'll be fine. I've got this," she said pointing to her Anti-Trapper, "and this," pointing to her cell phone, "so it'll be fine. I'll be right around the corner anyways."

"Alright, alright, fine." Rangiku got up. "So what are you going to wear?"

Rukia walked over to the closet, grabbing a white springtime dress with floral patterns over it. "I'll just go with this I guess."

"Okay~." Rangiku walked over to the mirror and took out a bunch of hair products and makeup supplies.

"And no need for makeup for me today, Rangiku-san."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure."

"Alright, fine. If that's what you want," she said pouting, turning back to the mirror and putting some salon volume-hold product in her hair.

"Actually...maybe just a little bit would be fine."

Rangiku smiled.

Rukia was walking along the garden trail area surrounding the hotel in the back, admiring all the different flowers present. Noticing a cherry blossom tree, her mind wandered back to her Nii-sama.

 _Rukia snap out of it, this is getting ridiculous. You have to get over it, he'll never see you as anything other than a sister._ She shook her head to stop thinking about him, and instead focused on the serious threat at hand: the Arrancars. What had the blue-haired guy said again? _Something about how I'll see my friend soon? Who was he even talking about?_ Continuing to walk down the path, she kicked a stone, and it suddenly hit her. Orihime. _Wait...it can't be! She left the note and everything..._ But Rukia knew it was entirely possible she was forced into it by them. And Ulquiorra had mentioned something about "a foolish girl" healing Grimmjow. _Shit, what are they doing to her?_ Starting to panic, she sat down on a bench nearby and took deep breaths. _Think, Rukia, think. Panicking is not going to do you any good._ After a minute, she was able to think clearly again. Grimmjow could've killed her, but he didn't. He was going to take her back with him, alive, for some reason. And Ulquiorra did almost smite her, but only since he was provoked by Byakuya. His first priority had been to get Grimmjow out of there. _How long is it going to take Urahara-san to figure out the safe entrance to Hueco Mundo? Orihime could be in huge trouble by now!_

~~  
Rukia immediately ran over to Urahara's shop to tell him about what she discovered, but he and Yoruichi were out of town.

"What? Where would they go now?" Rukia asked, frustrated.

"I don't know but I'm sure they're working on figuring out the problem, they'll be back in a few days for sure though," said Ururu calmly.

"Listen- I think Orihime is actually trapped there!" Rukia exclaimed. She then told Ururu how she came to realize that Orihime had been kidnapped.

"Even if that's the case, please trust in our Urahara-san. He will fix the problem soon and you all will be able to go save her."

"Isn't there anything I can do right now?"

"There really isn't; you'll just have to wait a bit more, Rukia-san. I understand you're worried, but I think it's best you keep this news to yourself for now. Ichigo and the others might rush in and get themselves killed which I'm sure you wouldn't want. Please be rational about this."

Rukia gave up and left, going back to the hotel garden. She picked off a pink flower and started taking it apart petal by petal as she nervously thought about what she should do. _Ururu's right, but this is Orihime! What if they're torturing her or something? She can't handle it...And I'm her friend! I can't just ignore the fact that she's been kidnapped!_

Rukia sat down on a bench twirling the stem of the flower, and she took a moment to look around at her surroundings. Everything seemed so normal; there were couples walking hand in hand on the trail, and what looked like a tourist group admiring the scenery by taking a ton of pictures. She noticed a couple on a bench across from her. They were holding hands and leaning against each other, talking about some good memories probably by the smiles on their faces. _I wish I could have that… Just one day...It would be nice to have a memory like that with him…_ She smiled sadly, and looked down at her phone as she got a message.

 **Hey Rukia**

She responded back:

 **Hi Renji**

He sent a picture of some kind of poster thing advertising about a fair nearby.

 **Do you wanna go there together today?**

 **I'm sorry Renji I'm not really feeling it today.**

 **Why? Are you okay?**

 **Yeah...Just not really in the mood for that right now, sorry.**

 **It's fine, maybe next time then.**

Rukia put her phone away. Truth is she didn't want to be around Renji right now, she knew she was pretty much engaged to him, but her heart was still with another. It just felt like if she were to go with Renji, he would mistake it for something more than friendship and Rukia could not really deal with that at the moment.

 _I have to go save Orihime even if I have to do it by myself, but it's impossible to get the seal and sneak in to Hueco Mundo right now with all of them awake and guarding it...maybe later tonight when everyone's asleep…_

Rukia got up and went back inside the hotel. Looking ahead, she saw a sight she was not expecting to see. Byakuya was near the front desk, surrounded by a group of over-excited teenage human girls, clearly in need of saving.

~Byakuya~

Byakuya had woken up to see that Rukia was long gone and he was still in bed. He mentally slapped himself for falling asleep like that next to her, the plan was to wait until she was asleep and then get up. Once again, he messed up.

He freshened up and got ready to go outside for a walk as he was extremely bored. He put on a plain white button-up top and black pants so he wouldn't stand out. Walking out the door, he thought to himself how annoying it was that Urahara hadn't figured out a safe way into Hueco Mundo yet. _How much longer is it going to take that man to figure it out?_

Byakuya took the elevator to the first floor, and went near the front desk where they had put out free cookies as complimentary service. He was about to take one, when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, are you the one who took a picture with Amy?"

"Who?"

At this, some other teen girls who were sitting on the couches nearby started looking at him and whispering amongst themselves. They all then took out their phones and were pointing it up towards him, as if comparing him to some picture. That must've confirmed it for them because they all raced over towards him immediately, surrounding him completely.

A red-haired girl with glasses asked him, "Hey are you single?!"

Another, brunette with braids, asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?!"

Byakuya was confused. "Exactly why would you need to know about my relationship status?"

As soon as he spoke, they all screamed in excitement. _Ok I definitely need to get out of here NOW._ But it wasn't exactly like he could Senbonzakura his way out of this situation, so he just stood there frozen, when he suddenly looked ahead and made eye contact with a certain raven-haired petite girl. Rukia.

Now he wasn't sure how much she saw exactly of this ridiculous event, but he probably looked like he was desperate because she did something he would never expect her to do in a million years.

"Hey honey!" Rukia said, waving towards him. _...Did she just call me...HONEY? What the hell is going on right now?!_

She then proceeded to bounce on over next to him as the girls immediately got quiet and turned around to look at her. Rukia linked her arm to his, and looking into his eyes said, "I was waiting for you sweetie! Ready to go on our date now?"

Byakuya was too shocked to even form words at this point, so he kind of just nodded.

"Wait this is your girlfriend?" asked one of the girls.

"Yes, I'm his girlfriend. Now if you would please excuse us," Rukia waved to get them to move aside. They moved aside, but their mouths were wide open in shock. Byakuya could relate to whatever shock they were feeling right now. Rukia held his hand and led him out the hotel doors, leaving him speechless once more.

~Rukia~

Rukia knew what she did was fucking crazy, but didn't really care as she knew this could possibly be the last day she ever saw Byakuya again. So she decided to ask him to accompany her to the fair.

"Nii-sama...I heard there was a fair nearby, would you like to go with me?"

"A fair?"

"Yeah there's basically rides and food and stuff to buy," Rukia said, looking down and blushing.

"..."

"Please?" Rukia said, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

"...Okay."

Rukia was overjoyed. She didn't think he'd actually agree to be with her for the day.

"So why were a bunch of girls surrounding you in there?" Rukia asked, snickering.

"The power of taking just one picture with one of them...I will certainly will not repeat that mistake again."

Rukia laughed.

"So this is what 'fun' is to humans…" Byakuya said, observing the excitement of the people around him. Rukia and Byakuya had just gone through most of the rides, the last being the Drop Tower. Rukia was screaming, while Byakuya seemed completely unaffected on every single ride. Rukia tried to make him go on all the intense rides to get some sort of reaction out of him like the rest of the screaming crowd, but nothing worked. _I don't know how he manages to stay so calm like that…_

Seeing a photo booth nearby, she led Byakuya along with her to take pictures. Once they were inside, she selected the option to take 6 pictures.

#Pic 1: Rukia smiles, Byakuya is expressionless

#Pic 2: Rukia puts up a peace sign, Byakuya's expressionless

#Pic 3: Rukia puts one arm around Byakuya and smiles, Byakuya's expressionless

#Pic 4: Rukia presses her lips against Byakuya's cheek, Byakuya's eyes widen in shock

"Sorry...was I not supposed to do that? I thought I could do this much... as a sister of course…" Rukia said.

#Pic 5: Rukia and Byakuya are looking at each other, Rukia's arms around him from the previous shot

"It's...fine," said Byakuya, turning back to the camera.

#Pic 6: Byakuya's looking at the camera, Rukia is still looking at him tenderly

Rukia then let him go as the screen said the pictures were printed. They went outside, and the collage came out of this device right by the photo booth. Rukia took the collage and she was sure she was smiling like a fool, but couldn't help herself. Byakuya was just too damn cute in the pictures!

"Here," she said holding it out towards Byakuya, getting a slightly confused look from him in return. "Keep it! Who knows, maybe you'll miss me one day and look back to this," she said smiling at him. This seemed to confuse him further.

"I don't understand…" said Byakuya. _Damn it Rukia keep it together before he figures it out._

"Oh look there's cotton candy! Nii-sama, would you like some, too?" Rukia asked.

"No thank you. You go ahead."

"Okay! I'll be right back."

~Byakuya~

Rukia was acting extremely weird. He was honestly kind of flattered that she asked him to hang out with her for the day, but also quite confused as he wouldn't expect something like that from her. Not to mention what happened in the photo booth. And then she had given him the pictures, saying he should keep it in case he missed her. It almost weirdly seemed like she was saying goodbye, which made absolutely no sense to him.

"Your girlfriend truly is beautiful, sir," said some old guy nearby that was selling some jewelry.

"She is not my girlfriend."

"Oh come on- I can see the way you two are looking at each other. But never mind that, I do think this here would suit her very well, wouldn't you agree?" He said lifting up a small snowflake pendant necklace to Byakuya.

"We are not in that sort of relationship, sir," Byakuya responded. _This guy is probably just trying to make me buy his items._

"Well, as someone who is much older than you, I can say that if you are not together with her now, you certainly will be one day," he said chuckling, "trust me I'm not wrong about these things. So what do you say? I'll give it to you for a discount."

Byakuya felt like laughing. _I am actually much older than you, sir. And I do not require a discount._

He looked at the pendant, and thought about how remarkably it would suit her. It was on a silver chain, and the clear stones on the pendant were sparkling. Considering that her zanpakuto was very similar to an ice-type, it seemed fitting.

"I do not need a discount. I am in a well-off position so will pay the full amount," Byakuya said, taking out cash.

~Rukia~

She ran back to Byakuya, cotton candy in hand.

"Nii-sama!" she called out, which must've caught him by surprise because she could've swore she just saw him quickly stuff some sort of small box into his pocket.

"What's that?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Nothing. We should get going now," he said.

She didn't push it.

They were walking together, when she noticed Byakuya eyeing the cotton candy she was having as if it were some alien object.

"Would you like to try some, Nii-sama?" She held out the cotton candy to him.

"..."

"You just have to bite into it like this," she explained, taking a chunk of the cotton candy.

He copied her motion, and when the cotton candy melted in his mouth, he definitely wasn't expecting it because his eyes widened.

"It's...very sweet," he said.

Right then an elderly couple, walked by them and commented on what a cute couple Rukia and Byakuya were.

"Thank you!" Rukia responded, blushing. Byakuya didn't say anything.

The woman smiled and as they walked away, she turned to her partner and whispered, "I remember when we were like that, don't you?" They both laughed and continued on their way.

Rukia and Byakuya went back to Byakuya's hotel room for a bit and that was when he presented her with the box.

He cleared his throat, and said, "This is for you."

Rukia opened it up and saw the beautiful necklace and gasped. "This is so beautiful...thank you...Nii-sama. You shouldn't have."

"It's nothing," he responded.

Rukia took it out of the box and headed towards the mirror to put it on. She was struggling with it so she called Byakuya over to help her.

"Could you... help me put this on?"

"...Alright."

He walked towards her slowly, and she handed him the pendant when he was just behind her. She held her hair out of the way. Byakuya put the necklace around her, and was clasping it into place, when his fingers slightly grazed across her neck, almost bringing about an exciting shiver from her. _Calm down, calm down._

"Thank you," she said turning around and smiling at him.

She then brought over a chair and stood on top of it. Next, she wrapped her arms around Byakuya, hugging him tight.

"Thank you...Nii-sama. And I'm sorry for all those times I've brought you trouble."

He surprisingly hugged her back, but must've felt uneasy as he asked, "Rukia is there something going on that I should know about?"

"No, I'm just very grateful for all that you've done for me."

Rukia went into Rangiku's room and pretty much everyone besides Byakuya, Ichigo, and Renji were there. Ichigo went off to do training with another group, to better control his inner Hollow. Renji was probably at Urahara's. The rest of them were with Rangiku, and drinks were present of course. Rukia hugged Rangiku as soon as she saw her, prompting the slightly drunk Rangiku to respond, "Aww Rukia? Did you miss me?"

"Thanks for being there for me Rangiku-san."

"Of course, dear. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just glad to have a friend like you." Rukia said, smiling.

"Rukia's here everyone!" yelled out Rangiku, causing a lot of "hey Rukia"s to emerge from the crowd.

"Rangiku-san, do you have a paper and pen by any chance?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah there's a notepad and there should be a pen in the drawer there," Rangiku responded, pointing to a table.

"Thanks," Rukia said as she took the items and went into the bathroom. Thankfully everyone was having a really good time to notice something was off with her.

She then proceeded to write three notes, one for her group of friends, one for Rangiku, and one for Byakuya.

Rukia left the notes for Rangiku and Byakuya in one of the bathroom shelves with all of Rangiku's hair products. _I'm sure she'll see this in the morning when I'm long gone._

"Hey Rangiku I'm actually going to stay over at Urahara's. I'm just really worn out and it's probably best for me to stay there for now."

"Oh okay dear, do you need one of us to take you?"

"No, no don't worry about it. I'll be totally fine. I will let you know immediately if something goes wrong, don't worry."

"Alright then, bye Rukia!"

Rukia left the hotel and walked to Urahara's shop, coming up with a plan to sneak into the Hollow World.

She was greeted by Renji, surprisingly. "Rukia!" he waved to her.

"Hey Renji," she said smiling at him. Though she did not love him in that way, he was still a very important friend to her.

"Are you okay, Rukia?"

"Yeah of course I am, dumbo!"

He must've felt much better when she treated him like she normally would've, for he responded, "I'm NOT a dumbo. What are you doing here anyways?"

"I just thought I'd stay here for the night. Why? Can't I?" She then ran over to him and put him in a headlock.

"O-oh. Yeah. Yeah okay, come in. Dude..can't breathe..." She finally released him.

"Where are the others?"

"Believe it or not, they're actually asleep. Oh and Yoruichi-san and Urahara-san have been out all day. I don't know what they're doing, but they're still not back yet."

"Oh okay." _Good, it'll be an easier task if they're not here._

"Soo...you left with Taicho last night…" _Aw hell was he seriously going to do this here right now?_

"Yeah...I was really drunk haha... he just dropped me off in Rangiku-san's room."

"Ohh, okay," he said as if deeply relieved to hear this news. _Why am I even lying about this? It's not as if something actually happened between us in his room, we just happened to sleep side by side…_

Renji started talking about how they were going to beat the Arrancars' asses and all and Rukia completely tuned out.

"Renji, I'm actually really tired today, so I'm just going to go sleep."

"Oh, okay, yeah. You can just stay in the room over there at the end to the right. I'll be right across from your room if you need anything."

"Good night, Renji."

"Good night."

Several hours later, when she was certain everybody was asleep, Rukia got up. She went into the room where she had seen Urahara take out the seal from before. Luckily for her, it was still in the same spot.

She then went into the room Renji was staying in. He was snoring, clearly exhausted. She lightly tucked in the note for her friends underneath his pillow, and slowly snuck out of the room and into the training grounds. She shifted out of her gigai and into her shinigami form.

Rukia then proceeded to do exactly what she saw Urahara do that day… and it actually worked. The portal opened up and the vast gray world was now right ahead of her. She ran her fingers over the pendant Byakuya had given her, taking a deep breath and finally stepping inside the portal. _Well, here goes nothing..._

That's it for this chapter guys! Hope you enjoyed it! We'll be getting into some action starting with the next chapter so hope you look forward to it. I will try to update as soon as I can and if you could leave me a review or follow I'd love that! Thanks guys you're the best! - Love from cggirl3


	13. Chapter 13

Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the long wait! These past few weeks I've been swamped with coursework and studying for finals (Yup professors think cramming in a bunch of work before the quarter is over is a great idea). So here's chapter 13! I'm currently on winter break so will try to update more frequently, look forward to it! As always thank you so much reviewers/followers! bluetonic4390: Yeah he seems so emotionless and hard to break most of the time haha, but really I think it's one more reason I find him so interesting! Dreaming Haven: I love reading your thought-out reviews! Thank you for taking the time to write them, it's always a pleasure to read them! And yes it's all those qualities Rukia has that make her my favorite female character in Bleach :). ctofi1: I am glad you're enjoying my story, keep reading!

So this chapter's got action in it and it is very much like the original work, but I thought it would be nice to put in some thoughts to what would the characters would be thinking about in these scenes and etc. This is probably the last chapter to have the actual original work's events in it, but I hope you like it and where it goes from here!

Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach, not me.

Chapter 13- Friendship, and Pride

~Rangiku~

Rangiku had just freshened up and was rummaging through her drawers for her makeup when she noticed the envelopes. One had her name on it, and the other was addressed to _Byakuya-sama_. Immediately recognizing Rukia's handwriting, she tore open the letter addressed to her and read its contents.

 _Dear Rangiku-san:_

 _First of all I know that you'll think what I'm doing is utterly stupid, and honestly it probably is. But I can't wait around knowing that my friend is probably in danger, she needs me and I can feel it. I'm going into Hueco Mundo on my own. I'm writing this letter because to be honest I am not sure if I will make it back, but I have to go and at least try to save her. And I want to say please don't just run in after me until you know it's safe; in case I fail, I want you and everyone else to succeed in my place. I'm not all that great at expressing my feelings, but I wanted to let you know that I'm so grateful for all those times you were there for me, and to thank you for being the best friend anyone could ever wish for; you are one of the best shinigami I have ever met and I'm honored to be your friend. You are more like a sister to me actually. I know my real one had abandoned me when I was younger, so I wouldn't really know what sisters are like, but meeting you made me feel like I had an older sister with me and I couldn't be happier. I also want to ask you for one more favor. I've left a letter for my Nii-sama and I want to ask you to hold onto it for now, and only hand it to him if for some reason I don't make it back all well and in one piece. Otherwise, burn it and forget its existence. What I wrote probably would not please him, but if I don't survive, I'd want him to know of its contents. Thank you for everything, Rangiku-san._

 _Your friend,_

 _Rukia_

 _Oh my god, Rukia what have you done?!_ She knew Rukia had a lot of love for her friends, but what she did was just stupid. She also felt tears welling up as she realized how genuinely important she was to her, as she called her a sister.

Just as she finished reading the letter, she got a text from Renji asking her to come over immediately to Urahara's shop. Leaving her gigai behind, she flash-stepped over to Urahara's as fast as she could.

~Byakuya~

Byakuya had felt the spiritual pressure from the portal gate opening at an odd hour, and finding it strange immediately went over to Urahara's shop to see what was going on. He was kind of surprised to see an outraged Renji throwing a fist at the wall. In his lieutenant's other hand, was a letter of some sort.

"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" yelled out Renji. Finally noticing Byakuya, he said, "Rukia's gone, Taicho."

 _Gone? What does he mean GONE?_

"What are you talking about?" Byakuya asked, trying to stay calm.

Renji handed him the letter, as he took out his phone and started typing away furiously. The other captains showed up immediately, as they had also apparently sensed the portal.

Byakuya read the letter:

 _I know you all are probably very angry with me right now, but I had to go. The truth is I realized Orihime was taken away and couldn't just sit around waiting knowing that she's been been taken by them. Considering the arrancar Grimmjow was going to take me back with him, I am assuming I will have safe passage to the world at least. It's obviously not guaranteed that I will succeed in saving Orihime, but I beg that you all not follow me until you know it's safe to do so. Renji: Don't be stupid and come after me, I can take care of myself. And if I don't make it, I will go down fighting to my last breath. You know me. And I expect you to understand this, as a fellow shinigami. Take care of yourself. Ichigo: This will sound weird coming from me, but I am truly grateful I met you and you are very important to me. Because of you I got to experience many things that I thought I'd never be able to. Hanging out with you and the rest of our friends were some of the happiest moments I've had in my shinigami life. So I thank you for entering my life, even though half the time I want to beat you up when you act annoying as hell (which is pretty often by the way). Stay strong and keep training, I know that you will not let your demons win over you. I'll always believe in you._

 _Rukia_

Byakuya wasn't sure whether he was angry or awestruck by this. Rukia had literally gone off to save the human girl. He knew her friends were very important to her but he didn't think she'd do something so utterly stupid...and quite brave. Byakuya simply folded the paper and put it on top of a table.

"Taicho, aren't you angry?! That's your sister!"

Byakuya threw him a look that said shut up. "Getting angry will not solve the problem."

A few minutes later, pretty much everyone showed up. Lieutenant Matsumoto was sobbing away, acting as if Rukia had already died. _Shut up, SHUT UP. She'll be fine._ Byakuya did not want to consider the possibility that she was lost forever to him, as he had started caring for her much more deeply than he'd like to admit. Ichigo showed up, read the letter, and started cursing away. Any other day, he would've taught him a lesson for being so disrespectful to a noble, to _his_ Rukia, but today Byakuya was actually able to relate the orange-haired kid. She was driving him insane.

"Matsumoto-pull yourself together! She's probably fine," said Hitsugaya, clearly annoyed, but it was obvious he was also a bit worried by the look he had on his face.

"She said I was like a sister to her, Taicho. Her sister!" Matsumoto said sniffling.

"What are you even talking about?"

"She wrote me this letter-," she started and then glanced over at Byakuya, as if she just said something she shouldn't have.

"What letter?" asked Hitsugaya.

"It's nothing, Taicho," she said still looking at Byakuya. _So she got a letter too? What does it say? And why does she keep looking at me like that? It's quite annoying._ She was looking at him as if he were the root of all their problems. Byakuya wanted to know what exactly was in that letter. To be honest, he was a little disappointed he didn't get one, but then again thinking about it, it really wouldn't make sense for him to receive one. It's not as if he were one of her close friends or something. _But she spent the day with me yesterday...Byakuya pull yourself together now is not the time to be worrying about a damn letter._

Yoruichi and Urahara finally showed up, and a very apologetic trio of the shop's workers surrounded him. The little girl, Ururu, was crying and the boy was angry.

"I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. I should have been paying attention. I should've placed the seal elsewhere," Ururu said to Urahara.

"You're telling me you just left the seal where it was before? And just let her sneak in? Are you stupid?!" The little boy Jinta yelled at her.

"Now, now don't cry. It'll all be fine, just explain to me what happened," Urahara said while wiping the girl's tears.

She explained about how Rukia opened up the portal and went in by herself, and let Urahara read the letter she left behind, to which Urahara just sighed.

"Rukia, oh Rukia. Could she not have waited just a few more hours?" Noticing the crowd of chaos in his shop, he then shouted, "SILENCE!", which made everyone shut up immediately. Byakuya was glad, as he could not stand all the unnecessary and annoying chatter of everyone there. He already had a headache worrying about Rukia, and listening to people come up with worst-case scenarios was not helping.

"Everyone listen up. We've got good news, I have figured out a way into the portal that ensures you won't be fried to bits. Now it is unfortunate that Rukia-san decided not to wait just a little while longer, as I was just able to acquire all the needed materials with the help of Yoruichi-san. But worry not, you all can go in now and save them, you'll just need to stamp yourself with this seal." He pointed over to the stamp and bowl of some weird liquid thing that the Shihoin cat lady was holding.

Ichigo sprinted over to Yoruichi as if he were competing in some sort of race that meant life or death for him. "Give me that! I'll go. I'm ready!"

Yoruichi turned the bowl away from him and said, "Sit your ass down, Ichigo, everyone's going in just a few minutes."

Ichigo groaned. The kid was annoying, but honestly Byakuya could understand his urgency. A minute wasted out here could be a minute closer to Rukia getting killed. _No. She'll be fine. She's a strong warrior and will not go down easy._ But Byakuya did not find much comfort in telling himself this.

~Rukia~

Rukia could not believe how stupid she was. To even _think_ this monster in front of her was Kaien Shiba, her friend and comrade.

When she had arrived she saw miles of barren land. There was nothing but sand. Luckily, she didn't get fried going through the portal, but the lack of literally any signs of life (or death) once she reached this world was something she found very strange. She ran towards the huge castle-type place she saw in the distance, with no obstacles but the distance itself to get there. Once she finally reached the building, Rukia entered a strange room where the ceiling looked like the sky; the sunny sky of a hot summer day. _What the? How am I outside? I just entered the building and went through a corridor..._ Moments later, she heard a voice and felt a shadow lingering around. Whatever it was said to follow. She ran after it into the room at the end of the bridgeway.

 _God damn it, he's strong._ She had sustained multiple injuries, her zanpakuto was now broken, and there was the Espada, wearing Kaien's face, laughing at her. Rukia thought back to what Kaien had told her once, about how she should entrust her heart to her friends. Even in death, his heart would be with Rukia. He had entrusted it to her.

She gripped onto her broken sword, with a newfound determination.

"Oh? I'm surprised you're even conscious at this point. Try all you want, but you can't change the fact that you can't kill me," said Aaroniero, smirking.

"I just remembered…" Rukia said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"What?" The Espada responded, quite surprised. Rukia struggled to lift up the end of her sword to position it directly in front of the Espada's face. "I don't know what the hell you remembered, but are you seriously going to try to fight me with that broken sword of yours? That's just sad, give it up already!"

"S-san no mai...Shirafune." With these words, the broken part of her zanpakuto reformed, extending straight through Aaroniero's head. This caused the mask of Kaien to break off, revealing the ugly tank filled with heads, the Espada's true form.

"I remembered...where Kaien-dono's heart is. You may have his body, his memories, his skill...but you will never be him. You could NEVER be. Even if he is dead, our friendship will always be alive. Kaien-dono entrusted his heart... to me. Farewell, Espada."

She watched as the Espada's head tank exploded and he was basically ripped apart. The heads were now out in the open on the ground, screaming in pain before disintegrating completely.

Rukia was now panting, struggling to stay conscious. She heard a voice in her head, the voice of Kaien, saying, "Don't die, Kuchiki. Don't die like this."

 _I don't want to, Kaien-dono._ She then saw the faces of her Nii-sama, Ichigo, Renji, and the rest of the friends she had made in the past few months. _I've known loneliness...the loneliness that comes from being locked away. I've known happiness...the happiness that comes when your friends come to rescue you. The terror when you know those friends may be killed, and because of you. The shock when you realize the one who's ignored you for so long cares enough about you to save you even if it means dying in your place. The admiration and love I felt when I saw him…even though my feelings were not reciprocated, I could feel his care for me..._ She looked down at the snowflake pendant that was gifted to her, felt like crying, but truly had no energy to in her weakened state. Rukia felt like she was slowly losing her mind because of the deep injuries imbued upon her body. She then shook herself out of it. She could not die here, WOULD not... she still had to go save her friend. After all, that was the reason why she came in the first place. _Don't worry Orihime, I'm coming to save you._

Her body was screaming at her to stop, to just rest because the wounds inflicted were much too painful, and the blood was oozing out of her, but Rukia refused to give in. She was just stubborn like that. She attempted to crawl to get out of there, still gripping on tight to the hilt of her sword even though her hand was shaking from the excessive blood loss, before collapsing and completely blacking out on the spot.

~Byakuya~

He flash-stepped as quickly as possible to where he felt Rukia's reiatsu, which was very faint. _Please, please be alive. I'm here now, Rukia. You've got to stay with me…_

The arrogant bastard in front of him, a.k.a. Espada number 7 Zommari, now had taken control of Rukia's entire body as he had used two of his many eyes simultaneously, one marking Byakuya's left hand, and the other marking Rukia's forehead. Byakuya slashed his left arm without any hesitation, but the moment he realized Rukia was now being controlled, he felt a tinge of panic inside. _Damn it, not her. You will die today by my hand, Espada._ Hanataro of the 7th squad who had come to heal her, was now cut by Rukia's very own sword. She now turned to him, starting to attack but he successfully dodged every one of her moves.

But Zommari had then yelled out, "Don't move!" And Rukia, still under his control, lifted up her sword to her own neck. _How dare he…_

"Throw down your sword Captain. You have lost," said Zommari.

Byakuya threw down his sword, but then put his fingers out to Rukia, chanting the proper kido to restrain her. "Bakudo number 61, Rikujokoro."

"What the-" This caught Zommari by surprise. "Move, move, MOVE! Damn it, I said move!" He yelled as Rukia remained unable to move, trapped by the kido. _I see…_

It drove the Espada mad that he now could no longer control Rukia, and Byakuya took this chance to grab his zanpakuto and shunpo to a different spot.

"You wanted to control me? That would never be possible for you, because as I said the difference in our power is like the difference between heaven and earth...Bankai...Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," Byakuya said, letting his sword fall to the ground, creating ripples.

Byakuya saw fear in the Espada's eyes as the millions of blades of his zanpakuto surrounded him.

"You think you can kill me?! I will use every ounce of my Amor to control everything you throw at me!" The Espada yelled, and all of his eyes started glowing.

"Useless. You said earlier you can only control one object per each eye. You have a total of fifty eyes on your body according to my count. So tell me, how do you plan to control the millions of blades covering the skies? You said it is meaningless to resist earlier, so let me offer you the same advice now. Resistance... is meaningless."

Byakuya let the millions of blades completely engulf Zommari in a sphere. He then allowed for the blades to disappear. Moments later, Byakuya still saw the marking on his left arm from earlier, indicating the Espada's survival.

"You are tough, I'll give you that," Byakuya said as Zommari emerged from some sort of cocoon, injured but not dead.

The fool now tried again to control Byakuya with his eyes, but Byakuya was prepared to try something else. Chanting Bakudo number 81, stopped the marking from reaching Byakuya. _So I was right. His powers are similar to that of Kido._

Zommari was now driven to madness as he kept releasing the markings, which one by one just continued to hit the wall that Byakuya had put up. This gave Byakuya the chance to shunpo to right behind Zommari, sword at his neck. It was then that he had started begging for mercy, which Byakuya was completely unaffected by. _Had you not dared to use Rukia against me, perhaps I would've felt just an ounce of pity for you._

"You-you! You just think you can kill us Hollows like we're nothing? You do as if it were something so natural! Do you think you are gods?! You Shinigami murder us! Who gave you permission to do so?! Is it because we devour humans? Yes, we do devour humans! But who told you to protect those humans? Has anyone ordered you to do so?! NO! Nobody has given you the right to do anything! You do it just because you can, and you think you bring justice as you've deemed us as evil! You think it is justice but it is nothing more than hubris!" Byakuya simply stared back at him, unmoved. "You-you! Wipe that smug look off your face! You make me sick! You all...you all are just-"

 _I think I've let him talk long enough._ Byakuya flash-stepped over to Zommari, cutting him so fast that it took the Espada a moment to realize what had just happened.

"Did I say I was going to kill you as a shinigami? The reason why I'm killing you is simply because…," he turned to look at Rukia, "you aimed your blade at my only pride." _I will never allow anyone who has threatened to hurt my Rukia to live. It is unfortunate you brought this upon yourself, Espada._

Zommari chanted "Banzai for Aizen-sama!" before finally disintegrating into the air.

Byakuya sensed a presence. "You can come out now, it's over. Did Unohana-taicho order you here, Isane Kotetsu?"

"Yes, she sensed 7th Seat Hanatoro Yamada's reiatsu when he got injured and ordered me to this location."

"I see. Take care of them." _You will be alright now, Rukia_.

Byakuya waited as Isane healed Rukia, his captain haori on the ground next to him. Isane had offered to heal him as well since he was still bleeding from the wounds that Zommari gave him, but he ordered full attention on Rukia.

 _Rukia, you fool...You shouldn't have ran off like that…but you managed to kill an Espada. For that, I am proud of you._

"What the…? Where am I? When did you get here Lieutenant Kotetsu?" He heard Rukia's voice from behind him.

"Please lie still, your wounds aren't completely healed yet," said Isane, as Rukia probably sat up.

"Rukia-san, please don't move and just let us heal you!" said Hanatoro.

"Nii-sama!" she called out. _Ah she must've noticed me now._

"Rukia, lie still," he said, still not facing her.

"Your haori!" she yelled out.

"It's not important, Rukia just lie still and let them heal you."

A moment later, she must've noticed the blood from his left arm, for she called out with such genuine worry that softened his heart, "You're hurt!"

"It doesn't matter," he responded coldly. He was still upset at her for running off without a word and nearly getting herself killed, and now she was going to worry about his injuries when she was clearly the one who almost died?

"But-"

"Rukia, I am fine. Now get yourself healed, we have a long battle before us."

He sighed in relief for he now knew she was safe, for the present moment at least. He turned to face her and could not stay mad at her as she looked up at him with those gorgeous violet eyes of hers. She looked at him with such worry and love...Byakuya truly did not think it was ever possible for someone to make him feel this way again after he lost his late wife, but….he just could not help it. He knew in this moment, that this girl had the power to tear out his heart if she wanted. She was his main concern, the person he had started worrying about every single day even when he thought he had no feelings left in him. And he would do absolutely everything to protect her. If his death meant her survival, he would gladly die in a heartbeat. _And so Rukia, these wounds you see on my body right now, they are nothing. Absolutely nothing._

She was right here in front of him, and no one could hurt her when he was there with her. He would not allow it. However, he did not know what would be coming just moments later would change their fate completely.

The last thing he saw was the frightened look in those beautiful violet eyes, as some sort of fog enveloped them completely from all sides, immediately making Byakuya lose consciousness before he could realize what was happening.

That's it for this chapter! I'd love it if you guys left a review, so if you have the time please do so! I know this chapter didn't have a lot of original stuff in it but pretty much everything that comes after this will be totally different, I just wanted to include these scenes with my own take on them because they were some of my favorite moments that showed the genuine affection between this couple that were in Kubo's work :). Regardless of whether you ship them romantically or not (though if you're reading this story you probably do lol) it shows they do care for each other and it shows how much Byakuya's changed since Ichigo slapped some sense into him in the SS arc. Thanks again everyone and I will try to update soon! - Love from cggirl3


	14. Chapter 14

Hey guys! Hope you all had a nice Christmas/holiday! I've been out of town and super busy so didn't get a chance to update sooner but here's chapter 14! Thanks reviewers/followers for your encouragement, I'm glad to see that you are liking my story :). Dreaming Haven: IchiRuki is my second favorite ship right after ByaRuki! I'm glad you're enjoying the story despite it not being an actual IchiRuki fic (they will have some nice moments though and I hope you enjoy them), thanks for your review! bluetonic4390: I love seeing how excited you are for my updates! Thanks for the love! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, not me.

Chapter 14- Beautiful Things

~Byakuya~

Byakuya slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a beautiful meadow-like place, surrounded by hundreds of different varieties of flowers in grass. It was an elevated place-probably located on a hill somewhere, Byakuya could feel it. There was a traditional-looking house in the distance; it was the only thing that seemed out of place in such a natural landscape which seemed untouched by civilization. Byakuya was laying on his side, when he saw the figure approaching him.

"Rukia?" he called out.

"Have you already forgotten me, dear husband?"

The girl came closer and closer and finally when Byakuya could see her clearly, he realized that though she looked very similar to Rukia at first glance, there were actually a lot of differences. The girl was wearing a flowing light yellow kimono, covered in a floral type of design.

Ah yes, there had been a time when he had considered her the flower of his life, the only beautiful and pure thing he had seen and didn't want to let go of. So much so that he had defied his family's wishes and married her. So much so that he once again broke a promise to his parents to keep the one he made to her before she had died. This was Hisana.

Byakuya stood up, feeling slightly dizzy. "Hisana?"

"Yes, it is me. Oh how I've missed you so," she smiled as she walked up to him and hugged him.

"I don't understand- where's your sister Rukia?" Byakuya asked, worried.

At this, Hisana pulled back and frowned. "She is your sister is she not?"

"Hisana, I-" Byakuya started but he wasn't really sure what to say. Yes, technically he had adopted her into his family but what he had started to feel for her recently was not entirely of familial essence.

"Are you breaking your promise to me?" she asked sadly. She had requested him to watch over her as a brother, not fall in love with her. Byakuya felt angry with himself, but he knew he could no longer deny it. His feelings for Rukia were not entirely as a brother's should be.

" I...I'm sorry," Byakuya truly felt at a loss for words. Here was Hisana, the wife he had loved so dearly, in front of him and he should have been feeling happy. But he just felt confused and was worrying about her sister instead.

"The one you're looking for is over there," she said, pointing in the direction behind Byakuya.

He turned around immediately, and sure enough he saw her. Her back was facing him, and by the looks of it she was sitting down and enjoying the view of the sunset that had just started to take place. She was wearing a completely white kimono, her black hair serving as a startling contrast. He looked back to say something to Hisana, but she was gone. There was absolutely no trace of his late wife. Byakuya, still confused and kind of lightheaded, made his way towards the girl sitting in the distance.

"Rukia?" he called out softly, as if afraid to disturb her.

She turned up towards him and smiled a smile that made his heart flutter.

"Byakuya? You came!" Rukia said, excitement pouring out of her voice. _Wait..did she just call me by my name?!_

"Wha-?"

"Come sit with me," she said, patting down the place next to her.

Byakuya sat down, feeling a million times more confused than before, but just glad that Rukia was right here in front of him and safe.

She looked back ahead at the sunset, smiling. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

He was too busy staring at Rukia to notice, but finally made himself turn and look at the view. It was extremely beautiful, though it had nothing on the beauty sitting next to him. He also noticed that just about twenty feet ahead was the edge of the meadow.

"Yes, it is," he responded.

She now looked back at him. "Byakuya…"

"Why are you calling me by my first name? I don't recall you ever doing that before."

"Would you like me to stop?"

He pondered for a moment. "No...it's alright."

"Good," she said smiling. She then moved closer to him, and leaned against his shoulder, closing her eyes.

"Rukia?"

She pulled away from him. "Yes?"

"Where are we?"

"Honestly I don't know. But isn't it nice just being together like this, in this moment?"

"...Yes, it is."

She then looked back ahead at the sunset, and he thought he saw a glimpse of a tear streaking down her face.

"Rukia, what's wrong?" He asked, worried because she was acting a bit different.

She wiped away the tear quickly, and then said, "It's just so beautiful, isn't it?"

"It is beautiful... but it's only a temporary thing. That beauty will be gone in just a couple more minutes," Byakuya responded, looking ahead. Here he was complaining about how short-lived the beauty was instead of just enjoying the moment.

"Won't it be back again tomorrow?" Rukia looked at him.

"Yes, yes it will. But it will only be for a moment tomorrow as well, right?" He wasn't sure why he was so intent on ruining the moment with his stupid perspective on the sunset, but he did.

"Yes, but don't you see, that maybe that is why it may be considered beautiful? The melding of the skies as they change from day to night. Sure, the colors are pretty but seen on paper, it is quite ordinary, is it not? This sunset may be special very well due to the fact that it is temporary, appearing but for a moment as it is just a transition phase in nature."

"Are you saying that beautiful things are those that are momentary?"

Rukia laughed a laugh that was so entrancing, that Byakuya truly would've believed that she was a siren of some sort sent to seduce him if someone had told him so. "No, Byakuya. That is not at all what I'm saying. Honestly I'm not sure what it is I'm trying to say..."

She then sighed and got up, reaching her hand out to him for him to hold onto. "Come with me."

He followed her as she led him to near the edge of the cliff. She then let his hand go, and stared ahead as if she was seeing or hearing something he was not able to.

"I...I have to go now…" Rukia said, tilting her head to the side as if she were lost and confused and had no other option.

"What? Go where?" Byakuya asked.

"I'm so sorry, but I have to leave now," Rukia said, her eyes tearing up once more. She then slowly elevated up into the air as if some invisible force was dragging her away. Dragging her far away from Byakuya.

Byakuya grabbed onto her wrist before she could go up any further. Rukia was now floating in mid-air, with just Byakuya latching onto her wrist to keep her from moving further. The sun was almost fully set, with most of the sky a dark blue but some reddish orange rays still present, as if the sun were were now closing its eyes, slowly falling asleep after a long day of work. The darkening sky contrasted with Rukia's skin and clothes, making her seem even paler, but still angelic nonetheless.

"Will you leave me too, Rukia?" Byakuya asked her with a desperate look in his eyes.

"I don't want to leave, but I must…"

"Why? Who says you must?"

Rukia was now starting to slowly fade away as if she were a ghost. Her feet and legs had disappeared already and slowly the rest of her was too.

"I'm so sorry, Byakuya...but please promise me one thing."

"How dare you? When you're leaving me behind, you want me to do something for you? How is this fair?" Byakuya knew his words were immature, but he couldn't help it. He did not want her to go.

"Please just promise me that you will do whatever it takes to find happiness. That you will not allow me or...my sister or anyone else to be the cause of your misery. I only wish to see you happy, Byakuya."

"Don't go then. Stay with me and I promise I will attempt to be happy once more…"

Rukia gave him a sad look before she completely faded away.

Byakuya looked down at his hand which was just holding onto hers seconds before, as it disappeared completely. There was absolutely no sign of her existence now. It was as if she had never been there in the first place. Rukia was gone.

~Rukia~

Rukia slowly opened her eyes, and saw a gray ceiling. She was on a table of some sort, she felt the sturdy wood pressing against her back, making her feel uncomfortable. Immediately, she sat up in place, confused. _Where am I? I was just outside…_ A voice interrupted Rukia's thoughts.

"I see you're awake now, Rukia Kuchiki of Squad 13," said Aizen. Rukia looked in the direction where the voice was coming from, and saw the former captain of Squad 5 sitting in an elevated seat. _Aizen? What the fuck?_ She then got a good look at where he was sitting and what he was wearing. He looked almost unrecognizable with the Espada-type clothing. _Is that supposed to be his throne...Fucking pathetic. I will kill you, traitor, or die trying._ Rukia then remembered she still had to save her friend. _Orihime!_

"You...Where is Orihime?! What have you done with her?!" Rukia yelled out.

"Who? Oh that girl! She isn't dead, if that's what you're worried about." Aizen said, looking at Rukia as if he was amused by her frantic expression. As if he was some sort of psycho watching a lab rat struggle for life, knowing it would soon die anyways.

"Where is she?!" Rukia demanded, as she reached for her sword, but noticed she didn't have it on her.

"I'm sure that Ichigo boy is with her by now. Enough about her, let's talk about you."

"What the-? Why am I even here? And where is my zanpakuto!?"

"Relax, Rukia. I have your zanpakuto as I thought it might become a bother if I let you wield it now. I just want to have a civil conversation with you."

"A civil conversation? After everything you've done?! Are you crazy?!"

Whatever hint of a smile that was on his face earlier was now gone. "Please do not test my patience, Rukia. I don't have a lot of time right now so I'll make this quick: I need you to sacrifice yourself for me."

It took a moment for Rukia to register what exactly Aizen had said, and when she did, she burst out laughing. "WOW. You really are insane! What in the world makes you think I'd want to do that?"

Aizen gave her a look that frightened her enough to stop laughing. He then sighed. "I suppose I owe a proper explanation. Rukia, why do you think you're still alive right now?"

"...Because for some damn reason you seem to need me for something."

"I mean, you should've died in your battle with the 9th Espada, Aaroniero, yet you did not."

"I was injured but I defeated him," Rukia said smugly.

"Yes, you came very close to the brink of death but did not actually die. And I believe it is because you had the Hogyoku within you for some time."  
Rukia was now officially a hundred times more confused than she was before.

"I believe part of the Hogyoku is still infused with your soul, Rukia. And I need it. I need its full power. And in order for me to have that, you must die," Aizen continued. "Before you ask why I haven't killed you myself yet, allow me to explain. I currently can't kill you."

"So why would you think I could sacrifice myself for you?"

Aizen sighed as if he were like a frustrated teacher trying to break down an easy algebra problem for a middle school student that was just too dumb to get it. "Rukia, you may live for now but I will ensure every friend of yours-no, every person you've ever talked to- dies. I can give you hell if that's what you want."

Rukia was angry but held it in. "What would sacrificing myself do exactly?"

"Aaroniero was the 9th Espada. I sent him after you knowing it would be a tough battle, but you see I just had to test it out. At your level of skill, would you survive against him? And you did survive! Not only that but I noticed the glowing of the Hogyoku when you had defeated him, so it turns out I was right. That little part of it you had absorbed brought you back from the verge of death. See, I had to bring you here to see for myself." He took out the Hogyoku and appeared in front of Rukia instantaneously.

The Hogyoku began to glow as if Rukia being close to it was somehow activating it. And she started to feel an annoying ringing in her ears which was beginning to annoy the hell out of her.

"What would I get for helping you exactly?" Rukia questioned him, simply curious.

"I won't harm your friends, as long as they stay out of my way. And...I will give you what you most desire."

Rukia nearly snorted in disbelief. "How would you know what I want?"

"Rukia," he sighed, "I can give you a happy ending. I can give you the life you want. The life of a shinigami such as yourself ends in one way; defeat through battle when you face a stronger enemy than yourself. But I can give you a full life, a happy life."

"How would that be possible? And did you not just say you can't kill me? So how can someone else?"

"I said I _currently_ can't kill you, not that you were immortal. Whatever power you have in you is just a small amount, and it will fade away given some time. But it'd be a waste-that power would just be lost. I want every ounce of the power, Rukia, and I need it now; I don't expect you to understand. You are just a lowly shinigami after all." He then changed his tone to an urging one, as if trying to convince Rukia like a guy trying to sell groceries to a customer by saying his were the best in the market.

"And let me tell you something dear: anything is possible. My power allows me to give you memories; they won't actually be real but they will certainly feel real to you. I will you give the memories of a happy life you would want, so that you could die in peace. You will not have any regrets at all. I can do that for you, Rukia. You just need to cooperate with me, that's all."

"A...happy life?" The ringing in her ears was getting louder. Aizen whispered something but Rukia couldn't hear it. However, she felt a spike in spiritual energy.

"Allow me to just show you one thing?" Aizen walked closer to her.

Rukia did not respond or move, and the ringing in her eyes was growing worse by the minute. She simply could not move, but part of her did want to see this "happy life" Aizen would create for her though. She knew it would not be real, but she did want to catch a glimpse of it.

Aizen stopped a few feet in front of her, placing a hand on Rukia's forehead. He then shut his eyes for a minute, and when he opened them they were literally glowing like fireflies in a field on a hot summer evening.

"I see," said Aizen as if he were somehow watching Rukia's life enfold like it was some reality show, probing around her mind.

Rukia then looked into his eyes for just one moment, and found herself moving to a different space and time.

Rukia opened her eyes. She looked around and saw that she was in a different place than where she was just seconds before. She was standing in a room in the Kuchiki manor. She looked down, noticing that she had much longer hair now, down to almost her waist. She was also wearing a plain lavender colored kimono, which she found strange because she would usually always be wearing her shinigami robes unless she were in the World of the Living. What she saw next confused her even more. Byakuya entered the room, calling out her name so sweetly that Rukia just stood there dumbfounded.

"Rukia, there you are!" He called out to her, smiling, as if she were the woman of his dreams or something. He then put his arms around her waist, lifting her up just slightly while leaning down himself, to plant a sweet kiss down on her lips. Rukia blushed.

"Ni..Nii-sama?"

His smile then turned into a frown and he said, "Not funny, Rukia. Now come on, everyone's waiting for you, what are you doing here by yourself anyways?"

"I...uh...wait what do you mean by everyone?"

"Rukia, are you feeling okay? We invited everyone over for a meal remember?" He gave her a worried look.

Rukia began to stare at him in awe. For the first time in her life, she was seeing genuine emotion from Byakuya. He wasn't trying to hide or deny anything, she could see everything he was feeling through his expressive eyes. He had seemed so impassive before, as if there were nothing at all that could open up his heart, and the only things he used to care about were duty and honor. But Rukia was seeing unmistakable love in front of her right now.

"Yeah, I'm alright," she said, not being able to hold back a smile as she looked into his eyes.

She must've been staring at him, entranced, for quite some time for he gave her a confused look and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing, I just...you're really handsome you know?" Rukia was surprised she actually said that out loud.

Byakuya smiled back at her. "Really? You're not sick of me even though we've been together for so long?"

He leaned in, about to give her another kiss when they were interrupted by a young child. "Mommy! Daddy!" The little girl hugged them both. _This is my daughter. Our daughter._

"Hana, why aren't you with the others?" Byakuya asked her so adorably that Rukia's heart just melted.

"I want to show you something. Follow me!" She said to Byakuya, and then turning to Rukia and looking up at her with the beautiful gray eyes that resembled Byakuya's, said, "Come on Mommy!"

She ran off to the other room.

Byakuya laughed. "Let's go see what it is this time."

Entering the other room, Rukia saw a huge feast taking place, with all her friends and some fellow shinigami present. The big dining table was filled with all kinds of food, which Orihime was currently binging on. Rangiku was sitting next to Gin, feeding him a spoonful of some pasta type thing. _Wait what the hell is Gin doing here?_ Uryu was explaining something to Chad, and a handful of others including Renji, Yumichika, and Ikkaku were laughing...at an annoyed Ichigo who was at one end of the table. His face had been drawn on with some kind of marker; he had a mustache, what looked like winged eyeliner, and spots on his cheeks that were probably supposed to be freckles or something. Looking around, Ichigo finally noticed Rukia make her entrance into the room.

"Rukia! Look at what your daughter has done to me...AGAIN!" Ichigo yelled out.

Hana laughed. "Doesn't Ichigo look funny?"

"Hey kid since when did I allow you to call me by my first name!? I'm way older than you!" Ichigo said turning to the girl as she stuck out her tongue at him.

Byakuya smiled, as if he were proud that his daughter did such a thing. Rukia could not help but burst out laughing for Ichigo just looked plain ridiculous.

Rangiku turned her attention towards this and said, "Oh shut up Ichigo she's just a child." Then noticing Rukia and Byakuya said, "The couple of the hour is finally here! Come on, let's eat!"

Rukia and Byakuya took a seat, and Hana sat in between them. Rukia looked all around at the table; friends, family, her love...all together and having a wonderful time. _This is so beautiful...there's literally nothing more I could wish for right now…_

And just as suddenly as she entered this fantasyland, she was just as quickly whisked back out.

Opening her eyes, she found herself back in the Hueco Mundo palace, Aizen in front of her smiling.

"See? I could give you that Rukia. That and more. All you have to do is just cooperate with me. I will make sure you have a painless death, and memories full of love with you."

Rukia felt a tear streak down her face. "You are one cruel sick bastard, Sosuke Aizen."

Everything she had just witnessed, she had no idea how much she had wanted it all until the moment she had seen it in front of her. This man showed her exactly what she wanted and then slapped her back to reality, just like that. Like he had given a child some of her favorite candy and then literally snatched it right back out of her hands.

"Cruel? On the contrary, I think what I'm doing for you is quite nice. Rukia, all you have to do is say one word to me: yes. Just say yes and this will all be over. I will give you a lifetime of beautiful memories just like this one and you will die believing you had everything you ever wanted."

Fighting back more tears that were threatening to come out, Rukia said firmly, "No."

Aizen now looked frustrated. "No? Better rethink that ."

He put his hands around her head, his thumbs on her temples, and closing his eyes, did something that made Rukia scream out loud in pain.

"Just say that you accept my deal Rukia, and I'll end this pain now," said Aizen.

"Let...me...GO!" Rukia yelled, and she was flung across the room, slamming against the wall really hard.

Her head felt like it was literally splitting in half and the last thing she saw before she passed out from the excruciating pain, was Byakuya. She saw him entering the room, with some people right behind him that were out of focus in Rukia's eyes.

She saw the fear in Byakuya's eyes which were usually so nonchalant, and she then thought back to all the memories she had of him; one by one they all flashed by as if she were recalling them for the very last time before she left the world for good. The times he had saved her, the times he had ignored her, the times he had shown concern for her, the time he had kissed her...

The last thing she recalled was the first time she had ever met Byakuya. He was a tall, handsome man with the aura of a nobleman, and he was a captain of the Gotei 13; Rukia had never seen such a beautiful and powerful man up close before. He had come to adopt her into his family, yet he refused to even make eye contact with her back then.

Coming back to the present moment, Rukia looked at Byakuya and tried to reach out towards him with her hand, but she had no energy left and just let it drop in front of her. She was exhausted and felt like her brain had just been deep-fried and scrambled all at once; she had never had such a horrible headache in her life before. _Byakuya Kuchiki..._ She saw the beautiful man in the distance and looked at him for as long as she possibly could before shutting her eyes.

That's it for this chapter! Leave a review and/or follow/favorite and thanks for taking the time to do so! This chapter was more of a symbolic one than actual stuff happening besides the Aizen storyline twist and I'm sorry if you didn't really like the style of it, but what happened here is very important for the plot of the upcoming chapters I have planned. I will update as soon as I can and I hope you are enjoying this so far! :) - Love from cggirl3


	15. Chapter 15

Hey guys, hope all of you had a wonderful New Year's! So this is kind of a shorter chapter compared to the last few, but I'm planning to update within the next few days (before my break is over and I have to go back to university T_T) so hope you like it anyways! The plan right now is to split this story into two parts, it just makes more sense that way and you'll see why soon, so I think the chapter after this one will probably be the last for part 1 of my story. I'm planning on having an original arc basically as it gives me more freedom and what not. As always thank you reviewers/followers! Dreaming Haven: I love reading your reviews, you make me seem like I'm a pretty good writer when I'm just an amateur starting out XD but thank you for the motivation, it makes me very happy to see that you are enjoying it! I hope you all like this chapter and once again leave a review/favorite or something if possible to make my day!

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, not me.

Chapter 15- Irresponsible

~Byakuya~

It had been about a week since Aizen had been taken down, thanks to the help of the Kurosaki kid and Urahara. It had also been a week since Rukia first got stuck in this coma-like state. Byakuya had tried to get to her as quickly as he could, but Rukia lost consciousness just seconds after he made eye contact with her in Aizen's castle prison.

When it was all over, Rukia was taken to the Squad 4 barracks, and Byakuya requested Captain Unohana personally to take care of her. A few days after the incident, he went to check on her and asked Unohana why Rukia was still not conscious.

"Kuchiki-taicho, I can't really say why. Physically, she's perfectly fine now but she's stuck in a comatose state for some reason. Unfortunately it's hard to say what Aizen did to her exactly, so all we can do now is just wait for her to awaken by herself," is how Unohana had responded.

He went to check on her at least once every day, but she was still in the same condition. He once walked in when Lieutenant Matsumoto was there visiting her, and he didn't originally mean to but accidentally eavesdropped a little.

"Rukia, can't you just wake up already? I…need you. I need to talk to you, it's honestly driving me insane. If not for anyone else, can't you get up for me, your best friend who's like an older sister to you?" Her voice slightly cracked, and she sighed after a moment. "At least tell me what I should do with this? Should I burn it?"

Byakuya then walked in, and Rangiku put away some envelope she was holding. _What the hell was that about?_ She then greeted him and took her leave.

It was honestly driving Byakuya crazy that Rukia was just lying there and he really could not do anything in this situation. So crazy he even went to ask Urahara and Yoruichi if they had anything to help Rukia.

"Is there anything you can do to help her? Either of you? Please…" Byakuya asked. He did not like asking others for help, especially the cat-lady, but he was pretty desperate. And she must have sensed that desperation for she didn't make any pesky remark to annoy Byakuya like she usually did.

"What a wonderful brother you are; I'm very sorry, Kuchiki-san, but I've got nothing," said Urahara.

Yoruichi stared at Byakuya for a moment, and then said, "I'll look into it and see if I can find something to help. No promises that I will though."

It did not provide Byakuya much comfort hearing this though, for even Unohana said Rukia was totally fine physically, it's just she wouldn't wake up.

Byakuya was currently going through some paperwork to keep his mind occupied, when Captain Ukitake decided to pay him a visit. The paperwork was something he really should've given to his lieutenant, but he wanted a distraction so decided to work on it himself.

"What brings you here, Ukitake-taicho?" Byakuya asked.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Ukitake responded.

"No, it's alright."

"How is she now?" _Damn it, just when I was starting to get distracted too._

"Still the same," Byakuya responded.

"She's going to be fine, she will wake up soon."

Byakuya did not respond to this.

"Kuchiki-taicho, she is a strong girl. She's still alive, is she not? She will be up soon, I'm sure."

"…Yes, she is a strong girl. Now if you've come just to tell me this, I request that you leave please, for I am working on something." He glanced over at the long stack of papers.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Byakuya was confused. "I'm fine as you can see. Why would I not be?"

"It doesn't make you weak to care for someone, Kuchiki-san, allow me to tell you that. I'll leave you to your work now," Ukitake said as he got up and left.

Byakuya was left feeling even more miserable than before.

~~2 weeks later~~

~Rukia~

Her eyes snapped open, and when she looked around, she saw that she was in a bed, and Rangiku was sitting in a chair next to her.

"Rukia! You're awake!" Rangiku nearly screamed in joy, as she smothered Rukia in a hug.

"Rangiku-san…can't breathe…" Rukia's head was still spinning as well.

"Oh, sorry…girl you just had me so worried! I'm so glad you're ok now."

"Where are the others? How's Orihime?"

"Everyone's fine…Ichigo though, he lost his Shinigami powers. It took everything in him to defeat Aizen."

"What?!" Rukia got out of bed.

"Woah woah, where are you going?"

"I've got to go see him!"

"Rukia, it's already too late! He probably won't be able to see you anymore."

"Too late? Why?"

She sighed. "Rukia, you've been in a coma for the past three weeks."

Rukia was shocked. "Three weeks?"

"Yeah."

 _Damn it!_ "I still have to go see them all, Rangiku-san, just to check on them. But I promise to be back soon."

Rangiku sighed once more. "Your captain knew you would be like this. You're free to go, you've got his permission to leave for the World of the Living. But you have to be back within the day, understand?"

Rukia was so grateful to Ukitake-taicho that she felt as if she could go hug him in that moment. But she didn't have time to waste.

"Thanks, Rangiku-san. I'll be back soon."

It was late afternoon, almost around the time of sunset. Rukia went into Ichigo's room directly and saw him lying down on his bed, listening to music with headphones.

"Ichigo?" she called out.

He didn't respond.

She went closer to him and smacked his arm, to which he reacted. "What the hell?! Ow!" He shouted, taking off his headphones. He then looked at her, squinting as if he were partially blind and needed glasses or something.

"Rukia?"

"Yeah it's me dumbass."

"You're-you're okay!" He grinned.

Rukia grinned back. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"You were unconscious for so long, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to see you…" Ichigo said, in a depressing tone.

"Yeah I was out for three weeks apparently…Rangiku-san told me you lost your powers so probably wouldn't be able to see me now…how are you able to anyways?"

"Urahara gave me something to slow down the process, to be honest though I can't really see you as clearly like I was able to before…so I guess I don't have long now."

"Ichigo."

"What?"

Rukia punched his shoulder so hard he yelped. "Rukia, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"I'm right here you fool!"

"Yeah I know, you didn't have to hit me to make yourself known, what the hell!?"

"Ichigo."

He put himself in a defensive stance. "Not falling for that again!"

She laughed. "Ichigo, where are the others?"

He looked down. "I think they're hanging out at the ice cream shop nearby or something."

"Why aren't you with them?"

"I wasn't really in the mood, Rukia."

Rukia put her hands on his shoulders. "Idiot. Even though you can't see me, I'll still be able to see you," she joked. Ichigo didn't laugh though.

"Rukia, that doesn't make me feel any better."

"Idiot, you'll be just fine."

"Rukia?"

"Yeah?"

"Rukia this isn't funny, stop ignoring me."

"I'm right here you dumbass!"

Ichigo started looking around desperately, and it was then that Rukia realized he couldn't see or hear her anymore. _Damn it._

He punched the wall in frustration, as he finally must've realized what was going on.

"You're still here aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Rukia, I won't say goodbye to you. Because I know I will see you again. That's a fact."

"Yeah." It was breaking her heart to see her friend like this, but she refused to cry. She told herself this would not be the last time they ever met.

Ichigo looked around him once more and then grabbed his phone and headphones as he headed out of the house.

Rukia saw him walking down the street, and felt a deep sadness, for her very first friend she made in the living world could no longer communicate with her.

Rukia went over the nearby ice cream shop and sure enough saw Orihime, Uryu, and Chad...and some other curvy woman who had teal hair. They were all sitting down together at a table outside. _They're all safe at least thank God._ Orihime was mixing around the ice cream with her spoon instead of actually eating it, Uryu had a book on the table but was staring at Orihime sadly, and Chad was just sitting there awkwardly.

Orihime started to say something, but then looked up and saw Rukia. "Rukia!"

Chad and Uryu turned around as well and looked happy and relieved to see her.

"Rukia!" Orihime ran up to her and hugged her. Rukia hugged her back but then noticed the woman with the teal hair was an Arrancar, as she had the mask of one on her head. Pulling Orihime to safety behind her, Rukia unsheathed her zanpakuto, ready to fight. The woman gave her a confused look.

"Rukia no wait! She's a friend!" Orihime said.

 _The fuck?_ "What do you mean, she's clearly one of them!"

"No she used to be but she's our friend now. She helped Ichigo in Hueco Mundo, and we decided to bring her back with us since there was nothing left for her there…Rukia, this is Nel; Nel, this is Rukia. Oh and also Grimmjow is one of us now too! Though he didn't come to hang with us today."

Rukia was utterly dumbfounded. "Wait-what the hell? GRIMMJOW?"

Rukia for some reason just could not imagine the evil Grimmjow to be one of the members of the "good guys" gang.

Nel gave Rukia an annoyed look. "So this is the girl that's been causing Ichigo to mope around?"

Rukia was now dumbfounded AND shocked, "Well I didn't choose to be in a coma for three weeks, thanks for your concern."

"Come on guys, let's just all be friends please?" Orihime said, being the peacekeeper she usually was. "Ichigo's important to all of us. And I'm so glad you're alive, Rukia!"

"Well, technically she's not alive, she's a Shinigami," said Uryu, pushing up his glasses, "but it is nice to see that you're doing well Rukia. The same cannot be said for that imbecile Ichigo though."

"I just saw him," Rukia responded.

"He was really worried for you. We all were," said Chad.

"I'm okay guys. I'm really glad you all are too."

Orihime said, "Rukia how's Kurosaki-kun doing now? He hasn't really been talking to us much lately…"

"Yeah he's been so sad…" Nel said, looking to the ground sadly.

"Feel free to smack him on the head and say it's from Rukia. The idiot should be with you guys," Rukia said, trying to lighten the mood.

"That's fine with me actually," Uryu said.

"He was just sad because he feels so powerless now, Rukia," said Orihime.

"Yeah, I know. Take care of him, he acts like he doesn't need anyone but he does. You guys should actually go see him now, he's walking around outside so I'm sure you'll run in to him."

"Are you leaving already, Rukia?" Orihime asked.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to go back."

"When will you come again?"

"I'm not sure to be honest, Orihime. But I promise this will not be the last time I see you guys. Take care, all of you." She hugged Orihime one last time, and waved bye to the others before rushing over to Urahara's shop.

~Byakuya~

 _You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me._ Rukia had once again run off to the World of the Living without saying one word to him.

"She will be back soon, I'm sure, Kuchiki-taicho," said Lieutenant Matsumoto.

"You should've come and told me as soon as she was awake," said Byakuya, trying to hide the tone of frustration.

"Forgive me, but I'm not sure why I should report to you regarding this. Ukitake-taicho had given Rukia permission to go and he is her captain." _God damn you Ukitake._

"Never mind, then," he said hastily taking his leave.

He wanted to go question Ukitake's sanity at the moment for even thinking about letting her go when they weren't sure about her overall condition, but he decided going to see Rukia for himself was the best choice. Was he being impulsive? Yes, but he couldn't care less in the moment.

~Rukia~

"Rukia~~I'm so glad to see you're okay now!" Urahara said.

"Sorry I really should be getting back soon, so I won't waste too much of your time," Rukia said.

"I'm surprised your brother let you come here this soon after you woke up," Yoruichi said, with a bowl of some rice and fish in front of her.

 _Huh?_ "What? What do you mean-," Rukia started, but was interrupted by Urahara. Yoruichi was now too distracted by the food.

"What is it you need, Rukia?" Urahara asked.

"Oh, yeah. I just wanted to know… is there really nothing you can do regarding Ichigo? Has he lost his powers for good?"

He sighed. "For now, I don't think there's anything I can do. I'm sorry. But should I figure out something I will let you know."

"Thank you," she paused for a moment before continuing, "…but maybe it's for the best though. He can live out his human life like he was meant to, and not carry the weight of the world on his shoulders."

Urahara stared at her, unfolding his fan. "But I don't think he wants to be a regular human anymore. I believe Ichigo was always meant to be a shinigami. So those powers will find his way back to him one way or another, and I intend to help in any way I can."

Yoruichi took a break from eating, and just stared at Kisuke Urahara as if he were a totally different person.

"Hmm…thank you Urahara-san. Perhaps you're right," said Rukia.

~Byakuya~

Byakuya waltzed into the shop like he owned the place.

"Where is she?" Byakuya demanded.

"Well, hello to you too," said Urahara.

"I don't have time for this, where's Rukia?"

"I don't know, why would she be here? Is she awake now?" Urahara asked innocently.

"Yes, she is. Did she really not come here?"

"Nope, maybe you should check Ichigo's place first."

Annoyed, Byakuya responded, "I already checked the Kurosaki boy's house and its vicinity. She's not there."

"Well then I don't know what to tell you Mr. Kuchiki."

Suddenly, Yoruichi appeared in the room. "Why are you lying to the poor boy, Kisuke?"

"So she was here?" Byakuya felt like strangling the dude with the hat in front of him. _Does he seriously think it's funny to be messing with me right now? That damn urchin-looking…_

"Yeah she was," Yoruichi responded, "but she went back to Soul Society."

 _Damn it! Why the…I shouldn't have come._ Byakuya now felt the irresponsibility in his impulsive decision to come to the living world. _Why am I being so stupid when it comes to you, Rukia?_

"Alright, then." Byakuya was about to leave, when Yoruichi grabbed onto his arm. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Let's talk Byakuya. Come on," she said, flash-stepping outside.

"Why are you running off? I feel so left out…" said Urahara, pouting.

Byakuya followed Yoruichi despite wanting to leave as soon as possible.

"What do you want? Make this quick," said Byakuya.

"You…you really care for Rukia, don't you?"

Byakuya was not about to have this conversation. Especially not with this woman. "I don't have time for this." He turned around and was about to go back when she quickly fly-kicked him to the ground, landing on top of him and putting her arm on his neck for pressure.

"Listen to me you fool."

Byakuya threw her off himself, but she landed on her feet. He then stood up and dusted himself off. "I'll listen from here. But don't you dare try that again with me, Yoruichi Shihoin."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." She got all serious then. "Rukia means a lot to you, right?"

"…I suppose so."

"Well considering that you just ran here to the living world as soon as you realized she was gone, I guess that says it all."

"Your point is?"

"Let her know you idiot. Let her know that you care about her."

"Why do you care about what I do? What is it to you?"

"I just think you're being stupid. So I'm giving you some advice, that's all. Maybe you should do what you want for once instead of worrying about defending your family "honor". See you later then, Byakuboy," she waved as she flash-stepped away, leaving Byakuya alone.

 _That damn annoying cat-woman…_

That's all for this chapter guys! Hope you liked it, please review/follow/favorite or whatever, it would be much appreciated! And I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you readers as well (even those that don't review or follow), I know my writing skills aren't the best but I hope to improve with some time and I'm glad you all seem to be liking it despite that :) - Much love from cggirl3


	16. Chapter 16

Hey guys! So here's the final chapter for part 1 of my story, I hope you don't hate me too much LOL, but I think once I start part two you will like it more (there will also be more mature scenes in part two haha). Thanks reviewers/followers and sorry if me making my story long is scaring you away LOL but I just have many more ideas so I'm extending it :). Dreaming Haven: I see you love Ichigo XD (I do too), unfortunately he's not in this chapter but he will be in part two and will play a big role so look forward to that :), bluetonic4390: yeahhh most of them were just fantasies but part two will have much more real stuff hahaha ;) glad you're liking my writing though :D, Meenathequeen: Yes it's just so frustrating isn't it? But I feel like he'd try to deny it for as long as possible, he is slowly opening up though :). Hope you all enjoy the chapter and leave a review/follow if possible and thank you! This chapter is also a bit on the short side but I'm expecting the next ones to be longer.

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, not me.

Chapter 16- Not Meant to Be

~Rukia~

"Rukia!" Renji yelled out, as he came running towards her and hugged her.

Rukia had just gotten back to Soul Society and ran into a nervous Renji who was pacing around, by the looks of it waiting for her to get back. As soon as he saw her though, his face lit up.

"Woah woah put me down Renji!" Rukia said.

"Sorry I just was so worried- how could you just run off to the World of the Living without even telling me?!"

"Wow Renji I didn't realize I had to ask your permission," Rukia said, rolling her eyes.

"I didn't mean it like that! How are you feeling now anyways? I wasn't sure if you'd ever wake up honestly…"

"Well sorry to disappoint but here I am…"

"Rukia you know I was worried right?"

"Yeah…" Rukia was happy she had been so missed.

"Hey so…I heard my captain followed you to the World of the Living?"

"Huh? Why would he do that?" Rukia asked. It was then that she noticed Rangiku in the distance, sitting by herself, a sad look in her usually vibrant and full-of-life eyes. Rukia had never seen her with that look before so naturally she became concerned.

"Well because-," Renji started, but was cut off by Rukia.

"Sorry, Renji, but can we talk later? I need to go talk to Rangiku-san about something really important."

"Oh...uh is everything okay?"

"Yeah- I just, I'll talk to you later okay?" Rukia said clearly signaling to him that she needed to go talk to her alone.

"Alright see ya." Renji took the hint finally and walked away.

Rukia walked up to Rangiku, putting a hand on her shoulder, and asked, "Are you okay, Rangiku-san?"

Rangiku quickly wiped away a tear, faking a smile and said, "Yeah of course! When'd you get back?"

Rukia took a seat next to her. "Just now actually. And you know you can talk to me, right? I'm here for you."

Rangiku stayed silent, just looking off into the distance. _I wonder what's going on with her? I've never seen her this sad before…_

"How about we go get a drink?" Rukia asked enthusiastically, getting up.

"Huh?" Rangiku was certainly surprised by this. "I don't know…"

"Come on please? For me?" Rukia said, putting out her best display of cute puppy eyes.

This seemed to cheer Rangiku up a little, for she smiled and said, "…Alright, fine. I've got a few bottles at my office."

"So can you tell me what's bothering you now?" Rukia asked.

Rangiku had just downed a couple small glasses of sake, and the Asian glow on her face was just starting to show up. Rukia had taken just one glass, for she didn't want Rangiku to be the only one drinking but neither did she want herself to be getting drunk.

Rangiku finally responded, "He's gone, Rukia. Dead."

 _What is she talking about?_ "Who, Rangiku-san?"

"That bastard Gin," she said, putting her head on the table.

"Ichimaru-taicho is dead? How?" Rukia did not know much, but she knew there was some sort of history between Gin and Rangiku. Though honestly she could not see why someone like Rangiku who was like a happy puppy would ever care for somebody so snake-like such as Gin.

"He tried to kill Aizen and failed." _Tried to kill Aizen? What the hell? Weren't they on the same side?_

"He tried to kill Aizen? Why would he do that?"

"He's an idiot…I hate him Rukia. I hate him because I love him. That idiot didn't need to take revenge for me…he should've just stayed with me…" Rangiku was now crying, leaving Rukia feeling kind of awkward, but she decided the best thing she could do was just give her a hug and try to make her calm down.

"It's going to be okay, Rangiku-san. His death was not in vain, and he must've loved you a lot to do that." Rukia didn't exactly understand the complete situation, but she understood enough to know that she was in love with Gin, and Gin was probably also in love with her. _I honestly did not think somebody like Gin Ichimaru would have a heart…_ But the Rangiku in front of her now who was crying her eyes out, was proof of just that.

"We were friends, you know? I know it's hard to believe…he wasn't exactly loved by the masses, and I know he did almost kill you that one day…But he was the one who encouraged me to become a shinigami. When I was just a child, he found me starving in the middle of nowhere…and gave me a persimmon. It was then that he told me I must be strong and have spiritual pressure for I was able to feel hunger. And my birthday…I didn't know when it was so we decided it'd be the day we first met…Rukia, he promised he'd kill anyone who made me cry but here I am crying the most literally because of him…I hate him…"

"Rangiku-san, I have to say I'm very surprised by this. What you just told me…I would never expect Ichimaru-taicho to do that for anyone. You must've been someone extremely special to him for him to do such a thing."

Rukia's words must've comforted her somewhat for she was now just sniffling. "Oh and Rukia you can call me just Rangiku, you know? I think we're close enough for that."

"Oh! I just didn't want to be disrespectful or anything."

"Disrespectful? Now you're just making me feel old!"

"That's not what I meant! Sorry Rangiku-san."

Rangiku gave her a pouty look as if she were disappointed.

"I mean sorry Rangiku!"

Rangiku finally flashed her a genuine smile, making Rukia feel happy that she was able to make her friend feel better, at least for now. "Good!"

Rukia got up, and suddenly felt really dizzy leading her to almost collapse. This must've scared Rangiku into becoming sober for she totally freaked out and didn't seem to be drunk any longer.

"Rukia what's wrong?!"

"It's nothing I just feel a little dizzy…"

"Okay we're going over to Squad 4 right now, come on," Rangiku said, holding onto Rukia so that she wouldn't fall over.

"How are you feeling now, Rukia-san?" Hanataro asked. "My captain will be here shortly to check on you."

"No that's really not necessary, I feel totally fine now Hanataro."

"Please allow us to do our job," said Unohana, walking into the room.

"Taicho!" Hanatoro quickly bowed to show respect.

"Tell me what happened exactly, Rukia-san," said Unohana.

"I just felt a little dizzy for a while that's all."

"She did drink a bit with me, would that have anything to do with it?" Rangiku asked, worried.

"How much did you drink?" Unohana asked Rukia.

"Not much at all, just a small cup that's all. It shouldn't have affected me honestly."

"Hmm…I don't think that's the cause of it then. I suggest you stay here and rest at least for tonight just so if something like that happens again we can help you right away."

"Oh I just don't really think that's necessary-"

"Rukia just stay please," Rangiku said.

"…Alright."

Unohana left, with Hanataro shortly following after her but not before turning around and saying to Rukia, "Please let me know if you need anything at all Rukia-san, I'll be just right down the hall," to which Rukia smiled and thanked him.

"Do you want me stay here?" Rangiku asked.

"No don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Rukia responded. "Besides you probably have other things you need to do, you're a lieutenant after all Rangiku."

"Yeah…but I can stay here if you need me to."

"I'm fine, trust me. And this is literally the safest place to be right now."

"Okay~. I'll come see you tomorrow then!" Rangiku tried to be carefree and normal, but Rukia was able to see right through it. She was still clearly hurt a lot by Gin's death, and she obviously did not have anyone else to talk to so she must've kept her sadness bottled up inside for a while. It pained Rukia to see her friend like this. She was glad though that Rangiku grew to trust her enough to tell her about her past with Gin and just what he had meant to her. Rangiku was there for her and Rukia wanted to let her know that she would also be there for her.

"See you. And Rangiku…it's okay to be sad. He meant a lot to you and I'm sure you meant just as much if not more to him. So anytime you feel like you need to talk, know that I'm here for you."

"I know dear." Rangiku gave her a sad smile before leaving the room.

~Byakuya~

Byakuya first ran into his lieutenant who he was hoping to avoid for at least one day in all honesty.

"Did you see her?" Byakuya asked.

Renji took a moment to answer as if he were debating to answer honestly or not. Byakuya was just about seconds away from putting his zanpakuto to Renji's neck to threaten the guy when he finally answered, "Yeah I did."

"Where is she now?"

"She's fine, Taicho." _That is not what I asked you imbecile._

"I asked where she is."

"Taicho, if you would allow me to be frank with you I think you have been very irresponsible as of late."

"Excuse me?" Byakuya wasn't sure if he should laugh or get mad because of how ridiculous his lieutenant was being.

"I mean I know you're a captain but just running off to the World of the Living without a word to anyone…anyways maybe it's best to just leave Rukia alone for now. She's doing fine."

Byakuya wanted to slice the guy in front of him to ribbons. _How is he my lieutenant again?_ But a part of him knew he was right, it was very irresponsible of him to do that. However, he did not appreciate Renji's tone and attitude, and the more Renji wanted him to stay away from Rukia, the more he wanted to be closer to her. _I mean just who does he think he is to tell me what I should do?_

"Renji Abarai, as your superior, I am commanding you to tell me where she is," Byakuya said very calmly but made it clear he would show no hesitation to hurt his lieutenant, as he put his hand on the hilt of his zanpakuto which was right by his side.

Renji noticed this, and was clearly upset but did not do anything to further anger his captain. "I'm not sure I just know she's with Lieutenant Matsumoto. She said she needed to talk to her or something so I'm assuming they're together right now."

Byakuya then walked past Renji, confidently showing him who's boss.

 _Just where the hell is she?_ Byakuya was wandering around, so lost in his thoughts that he almost straight-up collided into Rangiku, who by the looks of it also seemed to be pretty distracted by something.

"Hello Kuchiki-taicho. If you're looking for Rukia, she's in one of the Squad 4 rooms," Rangiku said as if she just read his mind.

 _What? Why would she be there again? I thought she was fine! She literally left to see her friends just today…_ "How is she, Lieutenant Matsumoto?" He asked casually. "Please tell me you did not make her drink again."

"Jeez I did not make her drink!" she exclaimed, then realizing she should probably be more respectful as he were of higher rank, said, "Anyways, you should go see for yourself. She looks fine but honestly I think she's still not completely recovered because of whatever that bastard Aizen did to her," Rangiku responded, her eyes flaring up with rage when saying the name "Aizen". _Yes, I wish I could've killed that bastard with my own hands as well._

"I see," Byakuya said, turning around and walking away from the direction of the Squad 4 rooms.

"Where are you going? Aren't you going to go see Rukia?" Rangiku asked.

"She should get some rest."

"She can rest after you've paid her a visit." _Once again she is out of line._ But Byakuya was also secretly feeling glad that this woman was urging him to go see her, because honestly at this point even if he had begun to walk away he knew he'd probably go right back within the hour. He wanted to see her.

"I guess it would be proper for me to go see her for myself," Byakuya responded, turning right back around and heading to the rooms.

"One more thing…try to be nice to her? She's been through a lot and I think it would really mean the world to her if you praised her instead of reprimanding her or something."

 _Excuse me? What kind of person does this woman think I am? She makes me seem like I'm out to criticize Rukia every chance I get. Please shut up Rangiku Matsumoto of Squad 10, for you don't know anything._ "I have no reason to reprimand her."

She murmured something under her breath that sounded a lot like "Yeah sure whatever you say, Your Highness" which Byakuya decided to ignore. He couldn't care less about what the orange-haired curvy woman thought of him right now, or ever honestly for that matter. He wanted to go see Rukia so badly and make sure she was alright, that it took every ounce of his willpower not to go running through the halls to get to her just one moment sooner.

He entered the room slowly, for he was actually kind of nervous. _Keep it together Byakuya, you're captain of 6_ _th_ _Squad of Gotei 13, a member of the noble Kuchiki family…and it would seem also someone Rukia cares for very much…_

It was then that he saw the raven-haired petite girl. She was sitting up in a bed, holding onto the snowflake chain pendant he had given her the last time they spent together, and she was staring at it intently. She then noticed him at the doorway, her beautiful violet eyes that he wasn't able to see for weeks now made contact with his, and Byakuya felt his heart beat faster, as if somebody had just pumped him full of adrenaline bringing him back to life. And it was in this moment that he decided to be impulsive.

He flash-stepped over to Rukia so quickly and wrapped her up in a tight embrace which really must've surprised her, for she was speechless for a moment and didn't even hug back.

"Rukia, I won't scold you today, as much as I want to, for you did do a very stupid thing…But you were also quite brave. I'm…happy that you're okay now," he said, surprising even himself since he hadn't said something that genuine in a very long time.

Rukia pulled back, confusing Byakuya. _Did I hurt her or something? I believe I was being "nice" as Rangiku said I should be?_

Rukia looked into his eyes as if she were seeing him for the very first time. "Um…I'm sorry but do I know you?"

Byakuya was not entertained by this. "Rukia I don't find these kinds of jokes funny at all."

"…I'm not joking. Who are you and why would you hug me? Do you know me?"

It finally hit Byakuya that she was not joking around. She did not look at him like she used to, with worry or admiration or affection. She looked at him as if he were some stranger, someone foreign to her. She even unconsciously moved one of her hands toward the table to the side which her zanpakuto lay on top of, as if she were considering him to be a possible threat. Byakuya backed away, not wanting to cause her panic.

"You don't…remember me?" he asked, still completely caught off guard by this.

And it was then that he thought back to when he last saw Aizen, realizing what his conceited smile actually meant. Even though he had been captured, he still smiled as if getting imprisoned was really no big deal to him. It really irked Byakuya that even when he was taken in he was smiling like he was the winner or something.

Rukia must've seen the emotions turmoiling in him for she responded, "I…I'm really sorry, but no. I was in a coma after fighting Aizen a few weeks ago, and I think something he did to me may have affected my mind or something somehow. But maybe it'll come back to me soon, I did just come into consciousness today." She then touched her forehead lightly and winced as if she were in pain. As if Byakuya being there physically in front of her was hurting her brain somehow.

"So…who are you to me? Were we very close before?" Rukia asked with such obliviousness that Byakuya felt as if his heart were literally cracking to pieces.

Byakuya just continued to stare at her for he was still in shock and didn't know how to respond exactly. He thought back to all the memories they made before, and realized that there was literally not even one that she remembered. Here he was almost just about ready to confess his feelings for her, and here was fate again playing cruel tricks on him to prevent that from happening.

 _Perhaps we just weren't meant to be…_

Byakuya felt the pain in his heart as he looked at the beautiful girl in front of him and began to accept the fact that she could never be his…This was his punishment for breaking a promise once more.

THE END (to part 1)

So that's it for this chapter folks! I am splitting my story into two parts because there will be a timeskip and I think it makes more sense for it to be that way as the main action plot line will be dealing with another enemy in part two-plus the characters will be older and more mature which I think will fit the theme for what I'm going for. I will try to put up the next chapter as soon as I am able to (it will probably be under another title but I will put part two to Forgiven and Loved under the summary), or unless you guys prefer that I just keep it going under this title? If you guys really want it to keep going under this title I could do that. Anyways let me know what you think and please don't hate me too much for using that cliche at the end of this part LOL I promise to give you guys really good shit in the next part, but at least now you know Byakuya definitely likes her for her :). Leave a review/follow/favorite and thanks guys! - Much love from cggirl3

Edit 2/12/18: Chapter 1 of Part 2 is now up! It's under the title Loved and Desired. Hope you guys like it! :)


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